Agenda and minutes

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Venue: Committee Room 'B' - The Diamond Jubilee Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Garth Harbison  Tel: 01772 530596; Email:  garth.harbison@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies were received from County Councillor Cosima Towneley, Paul McKeown and Roger Wright.

 

The Chair, Richard Toon, informed the forum that he had received a letter from Sue Harrison announcing her retirement from the Lancashire Local Access Forum.

2.

Minutes of the Meeting held on 10 April 2018 pdf icon PDF 80 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2018 were agreed as a correct record.

 

3.

Matters Arising

Minutes:

Forum members expressed their concerns at the serious delay in the north west coastal access.

 

A request was made for Tim Blythe, Countryside Service Manager, to come to the next meeting of the Lancashire Local Access Forum in October to give an update on the countryside service.

 

Richard Toon informed members that he was no longer a member of the Yorkshire Dales Access Forum.

4.

Local Transport Plan 4: Future Stakeholder Consultation

(Mohammed Ahmed, LCC Transport Planner, to present)

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed Mohammed Ahmed, LCC Transport Planner, to the meeting to present an update on the future stakeholder consultation on Local Transport Plan 4.

 

The Local Transport Act 20008 retained the statutory requirement to produce and review Local Transport Plans and policies. Local transport authorities could now replace their plans as they saw fit.

 

LTP4 would need to be a strategic document that articulates a 'Vision' for connectivity and accessibility for Lancashire to at least 2040. LTP4 would also need to clearly understand and set out how the challenges faced in achieving this 'Vision' would be addressed.

 

Regarding the draft objective and proposed structure, a technical working group consisting of officers from LCC was established earlier in the year using LTP3 as a starting point. From this a number of key objectives had been drafted:

 

·  Improving access into and between areas of economic growth and regeneration

·  Improving people's health, safety, quality of life and wellbeing

·  Reducing the environmental impact of transport

·  Maintaining out assets

 

In terms of timescales a draft project plan had been produced which outlined the overall project tasks and milestones required in order to deliver the LTP4. The LTP4 was one of a number of policy framework documents which required approval by Full Council. The LTP4 had to go through a specific process in order to be adopted by January 2020 and stakeholder consultation was to take place at some point in 2019.

 

130 invites had been sent out to stakeholders and Members of the forum enquired who these stakeholders were that would be consulted. It was pointed out that they were mainly local businesses. It was queried why cycling groups were not being consulted. The forum felt that the Lancashire Rights of Way Improvement Plan should be involved as part of the consultation. It should inform the LTP and be informed by the LTP.

 

LTP4 would bring more connectivity to Lancashire. The question of funding was raised and where it was coming from. Funding was coming from the City Deal Growth Plan.

 

The Chair stated that it was a statutory requirement for Local Access Forums to be consulted and requested that information be sent out to all forum members.

5.

Deregulation Act 2015

Minutes:

David Goode, Public Rights of Way Manager, pointed out to members of the forum that the latest expected date for the public rights of way element of the Deregulation Act 2015 taking effect was 2019. This was according to an answer given by Theresa Villiers in parliament recently.

6.

Coastal Access Update

Minutes:

Danny Moores, Natural England, had emailed the Chair of the LLAF sharing news that unfortunately had implications for the publication of the coastal access report for the Silverdale to Cleveleys section of coast.

 

Following a recent judgement of the Court of Justice of the European Union on 12th April 2018 in case C-323/17 People Over Wind v. Teoranta, Natural England (alongside many other organisations) was now considering, on a case by case basis, the implications for its work which of course included their coastal reports.

 

This issue had arisen out of the blue and was completely out of Natural England's control and was very frustrating as unfortunately Natural England did not expect to immediately publish its reports for either the Silecroft to Silverdale or the Silverdale to Cleveleys stretch. At present, it was not possible to say when it would be in a position to publish these two reports, but it would provide an update as soon as possible, together with an estimated publication date.

 

Members requested that Danny Moores from Natural England attend the next meeting of the LLAF in October to present an update.

7.

Any Other Business

Minutes:

The Chair, Richard Toon, raised an emergency issue on the wildfires situation in Lancashire. It was noted that there was no information on LCC's website regarding wildfires. Chorley Councils website had some information, and there was a lot of information on Blackburn with Darwen's website. There needed to be more information available to the public. Regarding no information on LCC's website, this would be taken up with the County Council's Communications Team and the Fire Authority as there must be more information for the public.

 

Over the recent years the effects of climate change and made the situation of wildfires more serious.

 

The Forum enquired what the involvement of the Highways Authority was. LCC had the ability to close access land to the public under the 28 day closure rule. Natural England also had powers to close access land. Local Access Forums were supposed to be informed when access land was closed.

8.

Date of Next Meeting

The date of the next meeting is Tuesday 9 October 2018 at 10:45am in the Duke of Lancaster Room (former Cabinet Room 'C'), County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Forum would be held on Tuesday 9 October 2018 at 10:45am in the Duke of Lancaster Room (former Committee Room 'C') at County Hall, Preston.