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Footpaths Committee Meeting

Agenda

FOOTPATHS COMMITTEE AGENDA

 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a meeting of Eccleshall Parish Council Footpaths Committee will be held on Wednesday 14th August 2024, Eccleshall Community Centre, at 7pm.

1.      Apologies

2.      To elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairman

3.      To approve the minutes of the meeting held on May 1st  2024

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

5.      Footpath Walks:

  • To provide an update to the installation of information boards for Bishop’s Wood
  • To consider the new Heritage walk booklet and approve for printing.

6.     To receive feedback from Staffordshire County Council regarding track surface on Bridleway 47 (Fairoak) and to consider the suggestion to apply for match funding to deliver improvement works, with the associated budget requirements.

7.      Update on Keep Eccleshall Tidy Team (KETT)

8.      Correspondence.

  • None was received at the date the agenda was issued

9.      Items for next meeting.

10.   Date of next meeting – November 6th 2024, at 7pm, Eccleshall Community Centre

 

S. J. Worden………

Clerk to the Council – 08/08/2024

Minutes

ECCLESHALL PARISH COUNCIL – FOOTPATHS COMMITTEE MINUTES – August 14th, 2024

 

A meeting of the Footpaths Committee was held on Wednesday, August 14th, at 7pm at Eccleshall Community Centre.

Present were:-

Councillor R. Taylor (Chair)               Councillor C. Wilkins

Councillor D. Hill                                  Councillor S. Perren

 

Mrs S. J. Worden (Clerk)

Observers: Cllrs. Reid, Feneysey and Dale.

 

1).    Apologies:-

Apologies were received from Cllr. Mifflin, Mr. Davenport and Mr. Cole.

2).    Election of Chair and Vice Chair.

Cllr. R. Taylor took the chair for the election process.

Cllr. Ros Taylor was duly re-elected as Chairman of the Committee, and Cllr. Chris Wilkins re- elected as Vice-Chairman.

3).   To approve the minutes of the meeting held on February 7th, 2024.

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

4).    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.

Items pending included:

  • FP94 broken stile – requires volunteer support due to distance from the road and carrying of required equipment and materials. The Clerk will re-request volunteer support from the Rights of Way team.
  • FP118 – requires 3 stile repairs and 2 x fingerpost repairs but the landowner has not yet been identified to ask for support in maintaining the route. The Clerk will ask Cllr. Kean to see if he knows the owners.
  • Walk 10 (old leaflet) has various areas to tidy but as not a priority route, will be fitted in as time allows.
  • New items – FP100 broken stiles have been added to the list for repair, and a complaint of an overgrown route on FP45 is being investigated.

5).     Footpath Walks:

  • The new information boards for Bishop’s Wood were installed last week, by Forestry England representatives and look excellent. The signs and circular walk will be publicised on Facebook.
  • Members considered the Heritage Walks Booklet. Funding has been provisionally approved to print 250 copies and pay to acquire the copyrighted images as seen in the draft copy, subject to content sign off from the committee. It was resolved to approve the booklet and proceed with printing.

6).    To receive feedback regarding ongoing issues regarding surface of Bridleway 47 (Fairoak) and consider a proposal to apply for match funding to deliver improvement works, with the associated budget requirements.

This issue was raised in the May meeting, to advise that Savills concluded that the piece of land that the track ran along was unregistered and as such they did not have a legal obligation to maintain it.

Since then, the council has been contacted by the SCC Rights of Way officer to suggest applying for a match funded grant of up to £2,000 via the Community Paths Initiative. This could deliver improvement works collaboratively funded by the Parish Council, Staffs County Council and by resident contributions of £1,000. The committee considered the proposal, noting the County Council has assessed the bridleway and considered it suitable for use by pedestrians and horses, in line with its purpose. Whilst it is problematic for vehicle access, this is outside of the remit of the designated right of way. The committee also carefully considered whether the funding would impact enough residents to be a prudent use of limited resources. It was agreed that as the County Council has determined the surface is suitable for use as a bridleway, that the committee would agree with this assessment and not be able to offer a grant at this time. Should the surface deteriorate further, the committee would be happy to support residents for a review of this assessment.

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

  • There are no updates to report. Cllr. Taylor will be contacting volunteers to check they have all the supplies they need.
  • There is a vacancy for a footpaths marshal, but Cllr. Taylor needs to contact all volunteers to check they wish to continue, and reallocate some routes, before advertising for more help.

8).    Correspondence:

  • There was no further correspondence to receive.

9).   Items for next meeting

Items can be forwarded to the Clerk.

10).  Date of next meeting:-

Wednesday 6th November 2024, at 7pm, Eccleshall Community Centre, prior to the Planning committee meeting.

There being no further business, the Chairman declared the meeting closed at 7.25pm.