Tyne and Wear Local Access Forum – Notes of Meeting
4th May 2011
Present: Paul Taylor (Chair)
Luke Davis
Ron Noble
Kathleen Atkinson
Tony Skinner
Dave Turnbull
In Attendance:
Lisa Roberts (ROW Officer, South Tyneside Council)
John Bourn (Tyne and Wear LTP Team)
Heather Evans (CTC)
Graeme Clark (ROW Officer, North Tyneside Council)
Tim Ducker(ROW Officer, Sunderland City Council)
Yvonne Forster (Tyne and Wear LAF Administrator)
1. Welcome and Apologies
PT welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Paul advised the Forum that Roy Deane, who was now officially retired and had left Gateshead Council, had been in hospital for the last 2 weeks. A card was circulated which will be sent to him.
Apologies received from Victor Cadaxa, Jessica Anderson, Simon Carey and Charlie Hall
2. Declarations of Interest
None declared
3. Election of Vice Chair
It was decided that, as it was likely the Chair would be stepping down before the end of the year, it would be sensible to appoint Dave Turnbull and Luke Davis as Vice Chairs, and use their strengths which they outlined in their election statements to the group’s advantage.
Paul suggested Luke should liaise with Yvonne regarding the publicity issues.
Dave Turnbull will represent the Group at the Regional Meeting on 6th June.
Paul, Luke and Dave are to meet in mid June.
4. Presentation – Coastal Access
Bruce Cutts of Natural England, gave an interesting and informative update of the work it is carrying out along our coast to improve access. 70% of the coast has secure coastal access, punctuated by 30% that doesn’t. Natural England is carrying out the work themselves, which means it will take longer but cost less.
Dave said the Ramblers Assoc had walked the stretch in our area and were producing a report next week. Spreading room is very important otherwise paths would be lost to erosion, so inclusion of this is welcomed.
Paul thanked Bruce for coming and said it was great to see what was happening after the amount of work which the LAF had put in to it’s response to the original consultation. He hoped he would be able to return in the future to update on progress. Bruce will notify the LAF of any future consultations via Tim Ducker.
5. Minutes of meeting held on 9th February 2011
Agreed.
6. Matters Arising
Item 7: Response on Forestry Consultation. Reply received from Catherine McKinnell MP (circulated) and an acknowledgement from Stephen Hepburn MP
7. Chairman’s Report
Paul highlighted the need to raise the LAF profile with Local Authorities and elected members. He suggested this could be combined with a request to Local Authorities to nominate elected representatives to the Forum.
John Bourn added that dates of LAF meetings were now on the main LTP web site.
8. Correspondence
Paul referred to a letter from Richard Benyon MP, Minister for Natural Environment & Fisheries (circulated), in which he underlines the importance of LAF’s.
9. LTP3 & ROWIP Updates
John Bourn reported that LTP3 was completed, on time, on 31st March. A copy can be found on the LTP website. The LTP Team is now producing two further documents in June, a summary document of 20 pages aimed at the general public, and a summary of responses to the consultation replies.
Regarding the ROWIP, Tim Ducker reported a lot of earlier actions were not capital intensive, more labour intensive.
Paul asked PROW Officers to provide a report specific to ROWIP with their updates to the Forum meetings. Tim suggested a more specific report could be included in the Annual Report.
Kathy Atkinson raised the subject of LTP money being spent on schemes not fit for purpose, in particular the traffic lights at the A694 Thornleigh Lane junction, which do not recognise horse riders. John Bourn to investigate and report back.
10. Local Sustainable Transport Fund
Paul Taylor attended the LSTF Workshop on 5th April 2011 at Newcastle Civic Centre. In his view he felt it was a little unfocused, and the amount of money available negligible. On a positive note, both capital and revenue money will be available.
John Bourn explained that a Key Components Bid for £5 million was submitted on 18th April which is based around travel to school (walking & cycling) This work, promoting cycling etc can be done quite quickly if the bid is accepted.
A larger bid of around £20 million will be submitted in June, focusing on sustainable access to employment sites, reducing congestion on main corridors and promoting walking & cycling. Any bid must address two key areas, the economy and carbon omissions. It is difficult to link Countryside/Rural Access to the economy.
The bid is on the LTP web site and John said he would welcome letters of support from as many groups as possible, once more information was known
11. Publicity
Leaflet and Membership Form – Yvonne to email drafts to Luke Davis
Website – Rachel McGraffin in the LTP Team has created a LAF page on the LTP Team’s main website at
http://www.tyneandwearltp.gov.uk/themes/localaccessforum/
She has also set up an email address for the Local Access Forum as follows -
Annual Report – Drafts circulated with agenda. Luke pointed out he had expressed an interest previously in helping to progress this task. A Working Group meeting was supposed to have been arranged but this hadn’t happened. Paul asked Luke to look at the drafts and report back to the next meeting. Luke felt the design of the Annual Report depends on who we are expecting/targeting reading it.
12. Monkton Mineral Line
Tony Skinner advised that 2 meetings of the Working Group have been held to discuss the best way forward. They recommend another survey on the ground (1 day), mainly aimed at the eastern end, to ask where users are going and why. A draft questionnaire has been produced to focus the answers to yes or no. A prompt sheet for interview staff will be available to provide explanations to any questions if needed. Luke felt it would be more meaningful to have a map. Lisa suggested taking a note of the mode of transport used.
Tony suggested 4 dates for the survey – 18th, 19th 25th or 26th June, between 10am and 4pm. Yvonne to find out when members are available before deciding which date to hold survey on.
Dave advised there is a cycle club nearby who may be able to supply local knowledge. South Tyneside Council and the local police will have to be informed. Tim suggested tying this in with LTP3 priorities.
13. Members Section
Milkwellburn Wood and Chopwell Woods– Proposed Site Visit. Yvonne to find contact.
14. Updates
a) Reports from Working Groups
None
b) Reports from appointing authorities (Reports circulated)
Gateshead - report not available
Newcastle – Progress report circulated
South Tyneside – Budget £24k, same as last year.
North Tyneside – Bridge collapse at Hadrian Park, Adderstone Drive, just off Middle Engine Lane
Sunderland – Tim Ducker suggested site visit to River Wear Trail when works complete.
Dave Turnbull suggested the LAF should get involved in the issues surrounding updates to Definitive Maps.
Paul asked the PROW Officers to provide a brief note about Definitive Maps for the next meeting. Tim and Graeme said this might be difficult due to staffing levels and cost.
15. Any Other Business
Kathy Atkinson asked if it would be possible for the LAF to respond to proposed planning applications. Paul suggested forming a group to meet on a regular basis to formally respond to planning applications. Paul, Dave and Kathy to set up Planning Application Working Group.
Kathy Atkinson said the Consolid path the Forum visited at Gateshead had been re-laid and this time it had worked. Horse riders are very pleased with it. Paul suggested a further visit at some point.
16. Date and Time of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 14th September 2011 at 6.00pm in Gateshead Civic Centre, in the Whickham Room.
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