Rights of way improvement plan 2020 to 2030

It is clear that public rights of way can help Buckinghamshire meet its priorities.

It is also true that resources to achieve this have reduced since the first ROWIP.

Public rights of way are an asset which should be capitalised upon for the benefit of Buckinghamshire’s residents. To deliver this plan in full will not be possible with existing resources and additional funding will be needed. There is also a need to work efficiently and effectively, focusing on priorities.

To develop better partnerships with new and existing partners to improve service delivery, we will:

• Work with new partners to deliver shared priorities in green infrastructure, health and wellbeing, the economy and visitor economy and active travel (ED1.1).
• Work with partners to ensure the priorities of this ROWIP are included in strategies, policies and funding bids (ED1.2).
• Increase the numbers of volunteers and expand their roles and provide more information on volunteering on the council’s website (ED1.3).
• Work in partnership with volunteers and community organisations who deliver rights of way services, to support them, develop new ways of working and new volunteering roles, improve communication and coordination and deliver training (ED1.4).
• Work with parish and town councils to understand their concerns and support those with devolved responsibilities as necessary (ED1.5).
• Influence and shape future devolvement agreements to ensure that public rights of way clearance is included and undertaken by all participating parishes (ED1.6).
• Support the Local Access Forum and ensure membership continues to be from a wide range of organisations (ED1.7).

The profile of public rights of way needs to be raised.

The Service also needs to widen the range of partners with whom it works. Better joint working will help to ensure that public rights of way are properly included in policy and strategy. It will help to make sure that projects are developed and funding sought which align with the priorities of this ROWIP.

New partners have been approached in the course of producing this plan, which has been useful. These include community organisations and groups which represent sectors of the population who currently use rights of way less.

More can be learned in the future to improve how the Rights of Way Service supports these groups. The council will seek to develop existing and form new partnerships to progress projects and funding opportunities in the areas shown below:

Community groups, volunteers and parish and town councils provide maintenance support worth thousands of pounds every year.

There are active volunteers surveying and maintaining the network every week of the year. The council recognises and values highly the work these groups and individuals carry out. This work should be carried out in partnership. The council will listen to the needs of these groups and individuals to support their continued good work.

There is potential to increase the role of volunteers, for example in helping to process reported problems. There is a need for greater information sharing between the council and volunteers and coordination between the volunteers themselves. This will help to make sure donated time is used efficiently, for example, avoiding double reporting of issues and several individuals surveying the same routes. Greater volunteer involvement can also help with the 5% annual condition survey.

Parish and town councils take an active interest in their public rights of way. Around half are committed to devolved responsibilities in 2019. This means some are responsible for cutting vegetation on public rights of way.

The ROWIP 2 consultation survey demonstrated that some of these parishes require additional funding to provide the rights of way clearance service they and their residents expect. The council will review how it can work with parish and town councils, including those with devolved responsibilities.

It is important that communities who take on a greater role also get the support they need to deliver a high quality rights of way service.

Landowners are also important partners. This is covered in this Improvement Plan under the looking after the public rights of way network.

Customers mainly come into contact with the Rights of Way Service through reporting problems. Every year around 2,200 problems on public rights of way are reported to the council.

The public can report problems online on the council website. In March 2019 the council upgraded to a new online rights of way reporting system, called the Countryside Access Management System (CAMS). The new software is much better for both the council and the public.

It is now easier for the public to report issues, more accurately, on a digital map. They can add photos and even report problems using a mobile device. It also lets people track progress and update their own reports. This software update has resolved many of the areas that the public were dissatisfied with around reporting problems. The council will work with partners and user groups to further improve this system.

More information, such as gate types, will be added on the web-based map over time.

Devolving responsibilities to parish and town councils can add confusion for the public if information is not provided. As communities may take greater responsibility for services in the future this is an area which needs to be improved. An annual list of parishes which carry out clearance on the council’s behalf will be published.

Other ways to improve this aspect of customer service will be investigated. Buckinghamshire Highways is an alliance between the county council as highway authority and the private company Ringway Jacobs.

Buckinghamshire Highways manages the county’s vehicle highways, footways and bitumen surfaced cycleways and rights of way. Buckinghamshire Highways operate their own online maintenance reporting system (Fix My Street).

Some complaints are directed to the wrong department. While the Rights of Way Service is within the council, the delivery of rights of way maintenance works on the ground is through Buckinghamshire Highways.

All other areas of the Rights of Way Service are located within the council. This ensures the service is as efficient, flexible and effective as possible. It also improves day-to-day working with other council departments, volunteers and other organisations.

To deliver a customer focused service, we will:

• provide an online and accessible rights of way reporting system, ensuring the customer receives feedback and monitoring our responses (ED3.1)
• publish a list of devolved parishes annually so that members of the public can more clearly understand responsibilities for clearing paths (ED3.2)
• raise the profile of the public rights of way service, promoting successful projects and ‘good news’ (ED3.3)

Additional funding will be required to deliver this ROWIP.

While some may be available from the council, other sources will also need to be secured. There are grant sources available which could better support public rights of way.

New sources of funding will be sought through working with a wider range of partners. Contributions from developers and from major infrastructure projects will also be secured to ensure rights of way are improved and communities not disadvantaged.

Some of our services are chargeable, including:

• Public Path Orders
• Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders
• Searches relating to Common Land
• Searches relating to Town and Village Greens

The council does not charge for pre-application planning advice in order to encourage developers to consider rights of way issues and possible improvements at an early stage. The charging and fee structure will be periodically reviewed to ensure that the council fully recovers the costs of delivering the service.

To Maximise the efficiency of the service, we will:

• Work with partners to secure grant funding for projects which improve access (ED2.1).
• Work with developers and local planning authorities to seek contributions to deliver the access needs arising from new development (ED2.2)
• Develop/review a schedule of fees and charges and publicise on the council’s website (ED2.3).