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 andnoted 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.