Minutes:
The forum was interested to know if there was any hard data of Rights of Way in Lancashire. It was noted that the Ramblers Association used to do a conditions survey of footpaths the association was hoping to do something similar again. There was no legal obligation for Lancashire County Council to do surveys. It was more about responding to issues and complaints rather than having a forward plan.
The forum was informed that Blackburn with Darwen Council received regular updates from ramblers both on paths and failed paths. Pre Covid the council had done random 10% surveys of the network to see whether the paths were fit and available for use. Because it was a random 10% survey the only issue was that you would not get the full coverage.
Over the last ten years there had been representations a few times about a survey that Natural England had done across the country. It was a very detailed survey and involved in-house interviews with a random selection of people to do with Rights of Way and access to the countryside. These MENE surveys were done between 2009 and 2019. The survey had continued and was now called the People and Nature Survey.
Three reports were presented to the forum. The first one was on 'The People and Nature Survey for England 2020: Monthly Interim Indicators for November 2020 (Experimental Statistics)'. This report was published on 13 January 2021 and was extremely up to date. There had been increases in people accessing the countryside during the pandemic.
The second report was 'The People and Nature Survey for England 2020: Children's Survey (Experimental Statistics)'. Natural England commissioned research to understand the perspective of children and young people relating to nature during the pandemic. Asking children about their experiences directly was important to provide young people with a greater stake in and voice about the natural environment.
The report asked whether young people had been able to get outside or not. It was noted that young people had more limited access to the outdoors due to social backgrounds. There were questions about why go outside and what were the reasons for going outside. The report stated that 60% of children had spent less time outdoors since the start of coronavirus. This was more than double the proportion that had spent more time outside.
Some primary schools in Lancashire had introduced 'Forest School' into their curriculum. This was where children went outside of the classroom to learn about nature. There had been positive feedback on this.
It was felt that the report was very informative and it was important to encourage Natural England to continue with this work. It was very important for public health and wellbeing.
The forum enquired as to what extent families were being deterred from going out and was anything being done regarding safety especially walking on roads and crossing fields with livestock.
The Chair, with the agreement of the forum, wished to refer this report to the three education authorities to draw their attention to it and to show there had been significant research into young people not accessing the outdoors.
The third report was 'Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment – the National Survey on People and the Natural Environment'. This the result of one of the final ten year MENE reports prior to Covid. It gave details of how many people did access the countryside and for what reasons. Over the ten year period there had been an upward trend in terms of visits to the countryside. It was possible to extract the data for Lancashire from this report.
The forum was informed that around 15 years ago there had been a Quiet Lanes initiative. The Quiet Lanes Initiative had been set up by Central Government with pilot authorities doing the work. Lancashire had been a pilot authority for Quiet Lanes. Work had been done but the evaluation of how effective it had been was never completed. It was noted that Government had published advice for the provision of non-motorist users.
It as agreed to draw this third report, 'Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment – the National Survey on People and the Natural Environment', to the attention of the three Highways Authorities.