Meeting documents

The Forum noted the information contained within the agenda pack and the following points were raised:

A letter was issued to the landowner regarding the open access land at Frieth, following members’ discussions in July 2016. This letter is in the agenda pack and concludes the matter from the Forum’s perspective. The Open Spaces Society thanked the Forum for their efforts to try and resolve the problems.

The Restoring the Record project co-ordinator reported 53% coverage of the county, with most volunteers coming forward via parish councils. The Chairman noted the big gaps north of Wycombe and Aylesbury. Mr Clark said the volunteer co-ordinator had been working hard recently and was doing an excellent job.

Cllr Whyte asked if the project will address the gaps that exist between footpaths and the verge on the road. Mr Clark explained this is exactly what the project was about: connecting missing links.

Mr Clark was to write to the Open Spaces Society about hosting and sharing information from the Restoring the Record (RTR) project on their website. However, Mr Thorns had drafted a possible LAF website, circulated to members a few weeks ago, that could host this information for project volunteers to access. Mr Thorns said he can’t maintain it, but could show people how quickly one can be created for free. The Chairman suggested perhaps Mr Clark could discuss with Jack Douglass, but Cllr Whyte said there was no budget to get teams involved and this has to be a volunteer effort. The Forum should use either a free website or Bucks Voice. Mrs Hudson reminded the Forum that the county council needed to remain completely impartial from the RTR Project and the Forum was an independent body. The Chairman asked Mr Harris if Oxfordshire LAF had an independent website. He said the county council host their LAF’s website. Wiltshire LAF did have an independent website until the volunteer with the skills left. It was concluded that without a volunteer the Forum will not have its own website.

Mr Clark outlined the correspondence from the British Horse Society (BHS) written to all LAFs in England regarding the Section 36 street list and how it's maintained. Mrs Hudson advised that any route shown on the List of Streets will be exempt from the cut-off date. It was the county’s approach not to remove any route on the List of Streets without a legal Order through the Magistrate’s Court. This is a public process subject to consultation. Mr Worrell, member of the public, asked about old lists and compared with new lists. Mrs Hudson said Transport for Bucks (TfB) administer the List of Streets, not the Rights of Way team, but a comparison could be made of old lists with new ones to ensure routes have not been lost. The Chairman asked for a briefing on how the list is maintained in Buckinghamshire for the next meeting. Mrs Hudson will respond to the BHS.

ACTION: Mrs Hudson

Mr Clark outlined the Chiltern and South Bucks Local Plan consultation and asked if members would like to follow a similar process of member consultation input as done previously for the Wycombe and Aylesbury Vale plans. The Chairman agreed for the Draft Plan to be circulated for comments by members when available.

It was reported that the LAF training day at Maidenhead council was very useful and Mr Clark thanked Mr Osborn, Mr Thorns and Mr Caspersz for attending.