ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – FOOTPATHS COMMITTEE

Wednesday, February 7^th 2024

A meeting of the Footpaths Committee was held on Wednesday, February 7th, at 7pm at Eccleshall Community Centre.

       Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chair)             Councillor S. Mifflin

Councillor D. Hill                             Councillor S. Perren

Co-opted members:

Mr. N. Davenport, Mr. Graham Cole

Mrs S. J. Worden (Clerk)

Observers: Cllrs. A. Reid and M Gosling

1).    Apologies:-

Apologies were received from Cllr. Wilkins.

2).    To approve the minutes of the meeting held on November 8^th, 2023.

The minutes, which had been previously circulated, were agreed and signed.

3).    Review of current maintenance schedule, work completed to date and any new issues to consider.

The updated maintenance schedule was circulated for information prior to the meeting.

The following additional actions were agreed:

• To replace a broken stile on Footpath 139 off Church Lane Croxton
• To undertake a larger piece of work to undertake a number of pieces of remedial work to paths in Croxton that are included in walks leaflet ten. This will be of a lower priority than the more regularly walked routes and work fitted in around the more urgent repairs.
• For the Clerk to request volunteer support from County Rights of Way team for repairs along footpath 96, as materials and tools need to be transported across fields which require more than one person to help.

4).     Footpath Walks:

• Work is ongoing with regards to the signs to be placed in the centre of Big Bishops Wood and two rights of way entrance points. The ecology officer has provided a comprehensive list of ecological highlights and a number of these will be incorporated into a draft document for consideration, along with heritage points of interest, for approval by the Forestry Commission prior to obtaining a quote for design and production.
• It was resolved to recommend reprinting 250 of the circular walks brochures at a cost of £430.

5).    To receive feedback from site visit to Bridleway 47 (Fairoak) in relation to resident concerns over track surface  and any actions arising:

Cllr. Wilkins, the Clerk and Mr Cole met with a resident and rights of way officer on site to consider the condition of the bridleway, which is along an access track to farms and some residential properties. The track has a number of very deep potholes which is exacerbated by heavy farm machinery. It was noted that the rights of way have a duty to maintain the bridleway as suitable for horses and pedestrians, which is a very different assessment as to suitability for vehicles. Maintenance of the track should lie with the landowner, but previous enquiries with land agents for the expected owners, the church commission, have been unproductive. It was agreed that the rights of way officer would go back to the land agents to request action for remedial works, and the resident would look into finding evidence to clarify who owns the track. Whilst neither the Rights of Way team or the Parish Council are in a position to undertake the works and accept future liability on further works, they will look to support as much as possible, and potentially explore any options for improvements via community volunteer projects, along with pushing for action from the landowners.

6).    To consider the revised quote for a single heritage trail via Trail Tale

Members were originally provided with a quotation from Trail tale for 5 trails, with 4 or 5 points of interest per trail at a cost of £600 + VAT per route, to include 5 years of subscription on Trail Tale. It was then agreed to request a quote for one trail to include the town centre area as a trial. This has been quoted at £1200 plus VAT, to include 20-25 points of interest, with the option to add the further trails later for a one off cost of £1,800. A decision on this was deferred until the next meeting, awaiting further information on any consideration of publishing a paper based alternative.

7).   Update on Keep Eccleshall Tidy Team (KETT)

• There are no updates to report, and with Cllr. Perren undertaking litter picking on Overton Manor, all areas are now covered.

8).    Correspondence:

• Residents have contacted the council with regards to the surface of footpath 13, which has been severely eroded and is restricting its use. The clerk has advised that the County Council rights of way team are in the process of obtaining 3 quotes for remedial works to the surface and it is hoped that this will be resolved soon.

9).   Items for next meeting

Items can be forwarded to the Clerk. Review of the trail tale quote will be added.

10).  Date of next meeting:-

Wednesday 1^st May 2024, at 7pm, Eccleshall Community Centre, prior to the Planning committee meeting.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 7.30pm.