Agenda item

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Environment, which sought approval to the adoption of Halton’s first Rights of Way Improvement Plan, following a 12 week consultation with other local authorities, user groups and outside agencies.

            The Board was advised that Section 60 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a requirement on all local authorities in England and Wales to prepare a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP).

            ROWIPs were not about rights of way in isolation, they were intended to deliver an integrated network of routes in and between town and country. The areas the Rights of Way Improvement Plan must assess were set out in the report.

            It was also noted that the plan must contain a Statement of Actions that the Highway Authority intended to carry out in order to improve its network, with particular regard to issues identified within the assessment. The Rights of Way network was undoubtedly a major means of accessing the countryside and key services, but on its own did not show the full picture. There were many other routes and sites that were used by the general public for informal countryside access and every day journeys that were not legally recorded as definitive public rights of way. With this in mind, the Rights of Way Improvement Plan for Halton considered the whole network of access routes, public open spaces and sites, as well as definitive rights of way and highways. It also assessed the whole spectrum of users and journey purposes, from disabled needs to routes to open access land.

            It was noted that once the ROWIP was published, the Council was required to make a new assessment and review it within 10 years. Thereafter, they would review the plan at not more than 10 year intervals.

            The ROWIP was a strategic document and would form a distinct strand of Halton’s next Local Transport Plan (LTP), which was being prepared on a joint basis with Merseytravel and the five Merseyside districts. This was Halton’s first full 10 year Rights of Way Improvement Plan.

            The draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan had been used as the basis for a 12 week consultation with a wide range of users and stakeholders to enable their views to be taken into consideration in the preparation of the final document. The Board was advised that only 14 formal written responses were received, these responses along with discussions with other consultees, were found to be positive, in addition, 17 questionnaires on the ROWIP were also returned. On the whole, the document was well received and strongly supported. Summaries of the results of the questionnaire survey and written responses were set out in the Appendices to the report.

            The Board was further advised that the draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan was also considered by the Urban Renewal Policy and Performance Board at its meeting on 17^th June 2009, when it resolved that the draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan be forwarded to the Executive Board for consideration.

            Under the Strategic Environment Assessment Directive and Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, there was requirement to undertake a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and Sustainability Appraisal (SA) on certain plans and programmes, such as the ROWIP. The results of these assessments were set out in the report.

            RESOLVED: That the adoption of the Rights of Way Improvement Plan, subject to any minor amendments and the inclusion of photographs that may be required prior to its publication, being delegated to the Strategic Director, Environment, in consultation with the Executive Board Member for Planning, transportation, Regeneration and Renewal be approved.