REPORT OF THE APPOINTING AUTHORITY
TO THE
MEETING OF THE BRIDGEND LOCAL ACCESS FORUM
12th April 2010
ITEM / DESCRIPTION / PAGE NO.4a. / BRIDGEND COASTAL ACCESS PROGRAMME /
2 – 5
6 / FUNDING FOR WORK ON RIGHTS OF WAY /5 – 6
10 / DATES FOR FUTURE MEETINGS – 2010/2011 /6 – 7
11 / ANNUAL REPORT /7 – 8
4a. BRIDGEND COASTAL ACCESS PROGRAMME
The Coastal Access project for 2009-10 has now come to an end. However due to the delay on funding being allocated at the beginning of the year, Local Authorities have been able to carry over spend into the first quarter of the next financial year so that projects can be continued on at the 100% grant rates. The Council has therefore carried forward spend for BR2, BR4, BR5, BR9. Progress on these as well as the other projects implemented in 2009/2010, are listed below. Spend on the four projects being carried forward relates to creation agreement negotiations and associated works that must be claimed at the full grant rate by the end of June 2010.
Progress report:
BR2 – Rest Bay Boardwalk
The works for this project, to construct a recycled plastic boardwalk adjacent to the golf club, will start on the 6th April after the Easter holiday weekend. The contractor carrying out the works has been selected, pre-award meetings carried out and the contract signed. The works will be completed by the first weekend in June at the latest. A temporary footpath closure has been granted and notices were put up before works were due to begin on site.
BR4 – Kenfig NNR
Negotiations are still ongoing with the landowners at Kenfig to route the coast path along the Haul road through the Nature Reserve. And, whilst the Kenfig Corporation Trust have indicated that they will be willing to sign the other private landowner will only do so if an unrelated diversion order is confirmed. The Council has processed that diversion order as far as it can and is now waiting for it to be determined by the planning Inspectorate. It is anticipated that the Public Inquiry will take place in August 2010 with a decision likely approximately 2 months after. If the order is not confirmed then the Council will look to create the coast path by other means e.g. Creation Order or Definitive Map Modification Order.
BR5 – Newton Point to Rhych Point
Negotiation is still ongoing with Trecco Bay Holiday Park and the landowners to register the footpath around the front of the park. The Council have sent out the draft creation agreement documentation to the landowners and lessees and are awaiting a response and comments in order to finalise the agreement.
BR9 – Newton Burrows
A draft creation agreement has been sent to the landowners for comments and the Council is hopeful that an agreement can be signed in the near future. The Council has already agreed to dedicate the route over its own land between the Beach Road Car-park and Footpath 11 Porthcawl as a footpath.
BR11 - Merthyr Mawr
A route through the dune system has been agreed between the landowner and CCW which would involve passing Candleston Castle. The path would then pass through Merthyr Mawr village before utilising the existing public footpaths and footbridges to cross into the Vale of Glamorgan. This route has been deemed the most suitable due to conservation management implications on the reserve. However, this would take the coast path inland and would require the public footpaths to be raised to prevent them being flooded. As a result the Council’s Group Manager, Highways and Fleet has raised serious concerns and therefore this proposed route requires further site investigations.
The nearest crossing point to the coast is the bridge owned by Welsh Water and they are now keen to work with the Council to develop a route over the bridge to save walking inland to the next available crossing point.
BR12 – Beach Road to Newton Point
This project was initially funded through the WEFO but it was agreed that if funded through WAG it could be completed by the end of this financial year. With the aid of additional funding and a supplementary grant claim the project was completed by Mid March.
A section of public footpath was re-surfaced which runs along the eastern edge of the Trecco Bay Holiday Park. This will link to the already surfaced permissive path around the front of the holiday park which the Council soon hope will be registered as a public footpath through agreement. The section that was re-surfaced is used heavily by pedestrians, cyclists and those with limited mobility and the surface had become quite rough in parts. As part of the negotiations to register the route around the holiday park, as mentioned earlier, the Council agreed to re-surface the existing footpath to a standard to match the continuation of the path.
BR35 – Sandy Bay
The Council has agreed to dedicate a route as a footpath through the Sandy Bay site to link up to Mackworth road from Rhych Point. In the event of the Porthcawl regeneration occurring in the future the route will be diverted onto a walkway / prom along the front to link directly with the Eastern Promenade.
Pedestrian Counters
The most recent counter data has been collected and covers the months June 2009 – December 2009. This data is supplied in the table over.
Site / Jun09 / Jul 09 / Aug 09 / Sept 09 / Oct 09 / Nov 09 / Dec 09Beach Rd / 13871 / 10899 / 16045 / 11487 / 8140 / 6409 / 6061
Juniper / 5945 / 4458 / 5629 / 5117 / 4130 / 3068 / 3448
Kenfig / 7132 / 6133 / 7493 / 6091 / 4119 / 3040 / 3199
M4 FP / 328 / 218 / 264 / 193 / 198 / 178 / 154
MMKG / 579 / 479 / 489 / 629 / 509 / 404 / 396
Rest Bay / 4780 / 3744 / 5155 / 3935 / 2754 / 1791 / 2490
Trecco Bay / 15709 / 13926 / 20275 / 15284 / 10282 / 5994 / 5916
FP56 Sker / 302 / 361 / 731 / 235 / 166 / 171 / 162
Results for complete 2009 figures are shown below. Most of the counters were installed at the end of March 2008. The exception is BEFP56 which was installed in March 2009. The counters were last read at the end of January 2010 thus the first complete calendar year of data is now available for 2009. All of the counters have been working normally throughout the year.
The grand total for the year 2009 across all of the coast counters was 446360. Comparing Q2-Q4 totals for each of the first two years, excluding BEFP56, we find 305,558 for 2008 and 359,089 for 2009 which is an increase of 17% at the main sites.
2010 - 2011
The project proposals for the year 2010-11 have been submitted to CCW. Projects will be assessed and allocated funding but with coast path works now being funded at lower grant rates of 75%. Bridgend will once again be receiving funding from the Welsh European Fund as well as through the WAG fund.
Projects put forward for the 2010-11 programme are:
BR2 - Rest Bay - Continuation of the boardwalk project and funding required for holding retention after the works are completed
BR3 – Locks Common - implementation of a route to extend over the common as a shared use footpath/ cycle track
BR4 - Kenfig NNR - Continued negotiation and creation of the Wales Coast path
BR11 - Merthyr Mawr - Continued negotiation of the Wales Coast Path as a footpath from Newton Burrows to the River Ogmore and the best crossing point over the River
BR13 – Continued pedestrian Counter data collection
BR22 - The design of interpretation boards for the Bridgend Coast Path and following this construction of two boards at points along the coast
BR27 – Local Partnership
BR31 - Locks Common - To register a footpath on the common linking footpath 22 Porthcawl with the highway
Members are asked to note the report.
6. FUNDING FOR WORK ON RIGHTS OF WAY
At the LAF Chair’s meeting on the 14th October 2009 one of the discussions centred on the issue of local authorities providing adequate resources for rights of way maintenance and improvements. As a result of those discussions Action 8 from that requested that ‘Each LAF had to report back on the total figures coming into their own local authority and how much of this is going in to public rights of way’.
The matter was again discussed at the LAF Chairs meeting on the 25th January 2010 and in accordance with that action the Council provided the Bridgend Chair with the relevant information in readiness for that meeting. It now seems appropriate for the Forum to be provided with that same information.
The County Borough Council’s Rights of Way Revenue budget has remained fairly static at just over £40,000 per annum for the past 4 years. In 2010/2011 this is likely to increase to around £46,000 as a result of the current administration’s commitment to increase spending in respect of highways and despite the fact that the Council needs to make substantial savings.
Turning now to the Council’s Rights of Way Capital budget I can confirm that this had remained at £40,000 since it was reinstated in the 2005/2006 financial year. However, it was reduced by £5,000 for the 2009/2010 financial year. Unfortunately, the exact minor works capital allocation for the 2010/2011 financial year has not yet been published although again it is anticipated that the amount set aside for work on public rights of way will not be reduced.
As Members will be aware the Rights of Way Section is also responsible for the maintenance of the majority of the leisure (off-road) cycle routes and these are also included within the definition of the local rights of way network in the Rights of Way Improvement Plan. Therefore it seems appropriate to provide information regarding the maintenance budget for this aspect of the Council’s work.
That budget has hovered around £12,000/£13,000 per annum over the past 6 years with a peak in one year of approximately £16,000. In 2008/2009 the budget was just over £12,000 but in 2009/2010, as a result of the current administration’s commitment to increase spending in respect of highways, the revenue budget for cycle routes was increased to just over £22,000. This will not be reduced in the 2010/2011 financial year.
Taking all the above into account Members will note that although there may have been some minor variations in Council budgets over the past few years the overall impact with regard to the local rights of way network (which obviously includes cycle routes) has been a year on year increase. Furthermore, despite the fact that the Council has to make big savings over the next two/three years it is quite clear that the rights of way and cycle route budgets will at least remain as they are.
In addition to the resources provided directly by the County Borough Council the Rights of Way Section also receives funding via various grant streams. This includes approximately £11,000 from the Countryside Council for Wales’ partnership grant, which is used to produce the walks leaflets, install and maintain counters and to undertake work with blind and partially sighted people.
Over the past two years the Council has also received £52,009 per annum as part of the Rights of Way Improvement Plan funding and this will continue in 2010/2011. However, confirmation has not yet been provided that this funding will continue beyond the current financial year. Since 2007 the Council has also received approximately £375,000 for Coastal Access. Both of these sources of funding have been reported separately to the LAF previously.
Members are asked to note the report.
10. DATES FOR FUTURE MEETINGS – 2010/2011
At its meeting on the 20th April 2009 the Forum agreed that future meetings would be held at the Innovation Centre. The meetings would also be arranged for a Monday or Tuesday whenever possible and would commence at 2 pm.
Over the past 7 years both this and the two previous Forums have met on a quarterly basis, except when consultation responses or other matters, have dictated that extra meetings are required. It is proposed, therefore, that the Forum should continue to meet on the same basis.
With this in mind the Innovation Centre has been contacted to determine the availability of the Juniper Room on various dates between July 2010 and March 2011. The options for possible quarterly meeting dates between July 2010 and March 2011 are as follows:
July
Tuesday 13th July 2010
Monday 19th July 2010
Tuesday 20th July 2010
October
Monday 4th October 2010
Tuesday 5th October 2010
Monday 11th October 2010
Tuesday 12th October 2010
January
Monday 17th January 2011
Tuesday 18th January 2011
Monday 24th January 2011
Tuesday 25th January 2011
Members are asked to decide the dates of the remaining 3 meetings of the Forum to be held between July 2010 and March 2011.
11. ANNUAL REPORT
The Local Access Forum Guidance: 3 – Annual Reports published by the Countryside Council for Wales should be used as a guide for producing the Annual Report. A copy of the document has previously been provided to Members of the Forum.
The Local Access Forum’s Annual Report must be prepared by the Appointing Authority under the terms of The Countryside Access (Local Access Forums) (Wales) Regulations 2001 that govern the setting up and running of Local Access Forums. The reports must be produced as soon as possible after the 31st March and must include those things listed in Regulation 16. A copy of that particular regulation can be found on page 6 of the guidance.