Members of the public may ask questions or make statements at this
meeting if they have given notice to Melanie Carr of Democratic Services (see contact details at bottom of page)
by midday on Friday 20 January 2023, three working days before the day of the
meeting. Each speaker should limit
themselves to 3 minutes on any item. Members of the public, who have given
notice, will be invited to speak:
·
At this point in the
meeting if their questions/statements relate to matters which are not otherwise
on the Agenda (subject to an overall time limit of 30
minutes);
·
When the relevant
Agenda item is being considered if they wish to speak on a matter which is on
the Agenda for this meeting;
·
If you are exercising
your right to speak at this meeting, but do not wish to be recorded, please
inform the Chairman who will ask anyone who may be taking a recording to cease
while you speak.
Minutes:
There was one public question from Mr Christopher Dunn, as follows:
‘I have perhaps 50 years of
independent PROW experience from another large rural county - Gloucestershire, and
since moving to Harrogate 2018 I have used that PROW knowledge in studying my
local 'Paths'. I am also an unsuccessful
candidate for this Forum.
The attached survey highlights the many Problems this county has in preserving
good, permanent and safe accessibility to all OUR PROW's. NYCC’s PROW web page details in great detail,
NYCC and Landowner’s Authority/duties/legislation and commitments. Despite NYCC's authority; duties; and
sympathy re PROW's, I feel that NYCC is failing to ensure safe secure fully
accessible PROW's
Will this Forum please instruct the NYCC PROW department to use all the
powers/legislation at its disposal to 'bring to book' all those 'errants' who
throughout the county without authority block/barb/divert/obstruct/mislead and
upset rightful use of the 'Kings Highway', the present 'softly softly' approach
to 'errant' landowners Just does not work.
May I congratulate all staff PROW staff at NYCC who at the many times I have
met in person, or by phone or by e mail have been most helpful, they just need
much more support and funding.’
In response, Andy Brown (NYCC PROW officer) apologised that Mr Dunn’s
experience of the public rights of way in his area had not met his
expectations.
He confirmed North Yorkshire
County Council managed the longest network of public rights of way in England.
Some of the network around towns and villages and popular tourist destinations were
very well used but many paths in some of the more rural parts of the County were
not. The Council had to prioritise its workload and
target its limited resources to resolving issues that posed the most
significant risk and impact on network users. He noted that in 2017, the
Council had adopted a prioritisation framework, following extensive
consultation with the public, PROW user groups and stakeholders, Local Access
Forum, Council Scrutiny and Area Committees.
He also noted that since the
abolition of the statutory requirement to survey PROW networks in 2008, the
Council had decided not to continue surveying the network to determine where
work was required, instead focusing its resource on resolving issues reported
by members of the public. Consequently, the Council would not normally accept
surveys of the network from external sources as service requests from users of
the network. He confirmed that members of the public were able to report
individual defects or obstructions via the Council’s recently implemented
online system, which gave much better efficiency in dealing with reported
issues as well as a better understanding of where there was most demand on the
network.
However, in response to Mr Dunn’s survey, he confirmed the information had been reviewed and those issues that were an obstruction or posed a hazard to members of the public had been identified and logged and would be dealt with in accordance with the framework noted above. Mr Dunn was assured that North Yorkshire County Council had robust maintenance and enforcement procedures in place and would seek to deal with those issues as efficiently as possible.
The Chair thanked Mr Dunn for his contribution to the meeting and noted that the issues identified within Mr Dunn’s survey would be addressed. He also confirmed it was not within the Forum’s remit to instruct the NYCC PROW department to do something, the Forum could only make recommendations.