Agenda and minutes

Venue: Conference Room 1 - Herefordshire Council, Plough Lane Offices, Hereford, HR4 0LE. View directions

Contact: Simon Cann, Democratic Services Officer 

Link: Watch this meeting on the Herefordshire Council YouTube Channel

Items
No. Item

82.

Apologies for absence

To receive apologies for absence.

 

Minutes:

No apologies for absence were received..

83.

Named substitutes

To receive details of members nominated to attend the meeting in place of a member of the committee.

Minutes:

There were no named substitutes.

84.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interests from members of the committee in respect of items on the agenda.

Minutes:

No declarations of interest were made.

85.

Minutes pdf icon PDF 509 KB

To receive the minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2024.

Minutes:

Resolved:

 

That the minutes of the meeting held on 27 March 2024 be confirmed as a correct record and be signed by the Chairperson.

86.

Questions from members of the public pdf icon PDF 357 KB

To receive any written questions from members of the public.

Minutes:

A document containing a question received from a member of the public and the response given, plus a supplementary question and the response given, is attached at Appendix 1 to the minutes.

87.

Questions from members of the council

To receive any written questions from members of the council.

Minutes:

No questions were received from councillors.

88.

Public Rights of Way and Greenway Policy pdf icon PDF 293 KB

To provide an update and overview of Herefordshire Council's Public Rights of Way (PROW) Service.

 

[Papers to follow]

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Chair introduced and gave an overview of the item including the four main areas for discussion as covered off within the report:

 

-          Understanding the size of the public rights of way network in Herefordshire.

-          Accounting for the current state of repair of the network.

-          Exploring the current and proposed models of management and operational delivery, including the role of the Parish Paths Partnership including the Herefordshire Local Access Forum.

-          Exploring opportunities to develop greenways through the county.

 

The Chair suggested that initially officers should discuss the report and that it would then be opened up for debate with the committee members and attendees.

 

Size of the network

 

1.    The Chair invited officers present to cover off the size of the PROW (public rights of way) network, the various elements that made up the network and any specific features within the county - such as bridges and topography - which presented officers with challenges.

 

·         The Head of Highways and Traffic drew the committee’s attention to paragraphs 2 and 3 (including Table 1) within the main report, which detailed how Herefordshire’s Public Rights of Way network was comprised of Footpaths, Bridleways, restricted byways and byways open to all traffic. To give an understanding of the size of the network, it was highlighted that - at 3014km in length - the footpath network within the county was larger than the road network.

·         The Head of Highways and Traffic pointed out that the size and accessibility of the network, and resources available to manage it presented challenges. In particular the remoteness of certain sections made them difficult to access and maintain.

·         It was pointed out that there were currently 29 bridges within the network that were recorded as being damaged.

·         The Head of Highways and Traffic noted that the complexity around certain legal issues relevant to the network could present issues and challenges for the council.

·         The Service Director Environment and Highways described how the right of way team within the council had reduced in size over recent years.

·         The river running through the county was not necessarily a problem, but maintaining discrete structures bridging remote small streams was a challenge for the team.

·         The rights of way of team was small, and covering over 3,000km of network was a difficult and revenue expenditure-dependent activity.

 

2.    The committee enquired if there were any features specific to Herefordshire, such as topography that made it more challenging to deal with compared to other counties.

 

·         The Service Director Environment and Highways stated that there was nothing specific to Herefordshire presented unique challenges. The topography and land stability issues within the county were similar to those experienced by other counties.

 

3.    The chair opened up the discussion to other attendees.

 

4.    The Herefordshire Local Access Forum representative noted that the foot path network was larger than the road network, and emphasised the importance of encouraging and promoting walking tourism within the county, as it was valuable means of generating revenue for local businesses  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

89.

Chair Update pdf icon PDF 253 KB

To provide updates on developments and activity relevant to the committee’s remit, including updates on executive responses to committee recommendations.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee received and discussed Executive responses to recommendations it had made regarding River Water Pollution and Implementing the Environment Act 2021.

 

The Committee was satisfied with the responses received in relation to the Environment Act 2021, but had concerns regarding several of the Executive responses it had received in relation to River Water Pollution. It was unanimously decided it might be useful to contact and meet with the Cabinet Member Environment to discuss the recommendations that had been partially agreed.

 

Resolved:

 

That the Chair of the Committee would write a letter to the Cabinet Member for the Environment, seeking clarity as to whether they would reconsider the responses to recs a), b) and e) in relation to River Water Pollution and enquire whether they could move towards what was the intention of the three recommendations.

90.

Work programme pdf icon PDF 212 KB

To consider the draft work programme for the Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee for the municipal year 2024/25.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Committee discussed the work programme for the year ahead and voted unanimously to make the following change:

 

Resolved:

 

That the River Lugg water quality item be rescheduled from the Committee’s March 2025 agenda to the January 2025 agenda.

91.

Date of the next meeting

Monday 23 September 2024, 10.00am

Minutes:

Monday 23 September 2024, 2pm

92.

Appendix 1 - Questions from members of the public.

Minutes:

Questioner:

Mr Peter McKay, Leominster

Scrutiny Meeting:

Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee 22 July 2024

Question:

A question to Connected Communities Scrutiny Committee February 2024 meeting, now transferred to yourselves, seeking assurance that the two specific Highway and Path Record issues be incorporated in its work programme, records that a response to the substance of my question will be given at the next public meeting, now this meeting, and I seek this assurance. Working through various issues in Leominster I ask if you have any guidance for Parishes should they find that situation on the ground differs from that shown on your Highways and PROW Map, making best use of parish powers and most cost effective map correction process, e.g., local plan, list of streets, showing private maintained highways, highways subject of cease to maintain orders, open spaces, etc.?

Response:

This committee will be scrutinising how the council manages public rights of way in Herefordshire. As part of that work, the committee will ask questions about how the definitive map is maintained and amended. A further focus for the committee’s questioning will be around how Herefordshire Council works with Parish Path Partnerships, to ensure the maintenance of public rights of way.

The council has an established process for modifying the definitive map for public rights of way, which can be found on the council website at https://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/public-rights-way/definitive-map-statement-dms/3. This includes guidance for submitting anomalies. Parish council have no powers to amend the definitive map and should submit suggested modifications using the same process as that used by members of the public.

 

Questioner:

Mr Peter McKay, Leominster

Scrutiny Meeting:

Environment and Sustainability Scrutiny Committee 22 July 2024

 Supplementary Question:

Have worked through Leominster's List of Anomalies on Town Council webpage, plus those on your own list, and have raised the attached Draft Action Plan, expected to be on Town Council webpage shortly, aiming to address these in most efficient manner, my finding they mostly if not all fall outside scope of your referenced guidance. Town Council has made representation to the 2021-41 Local Plan Place Shaping Consultation that these need to be corrected. Would you please review this, provide some feedback, would it be included in the Local Plan, and would you discuss with Town Council?

Verbal Response from Cabinet Member Transport and Infrastructure delivered during the meeting: Thank you Mr McKay for your supplementary question. It's quite complex, so we’ll strip your question into various bits. Let's start with ‘would it be included in the Local Plan? The Local Plan is likely to undergo significant change as a result of the change of government at the recent general election and we're not sure where that's going to take us. However on the substance of the question, that will still remain whatever government is in place, so we'll just get that out of the way to start with. The Local Plan isn't going to arrive any day soon I suspect. I've looked through your list of actions and it's fairly straightforward,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 92.