Natural England

NCAF 11/2 Access Land and Rights of Way Training Strategy

2. The forum is invited to advise on the general approach to the role and use of training for this purpose. 

Background

3. Implementing the access measures contained in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 will require the development and application of new skills by a wide range of people. It will also require the dissemination of a great deal of information to a variety of audiences. Formal training will play an important part in both of these processes.

4. The need for and potential benefit of training in this area could be considerable. Access land and rights of way training is one of the main priorities for Countryside Agency involvement in training during 2001 - but our time and money (like everyone else's) is limited. In considering what training needs might need to be filled and the most appropriate way of dealing with them, the Agency must make the most effective use of its own resources and encourage the application of those controlled by others, for these purposes.

5. To achieve this, the strategy we adopt should:

a) identify the potential training needs of the wide range of people involved; b) prioritise these; and c) identify the most appropriate means of meeting them, taking into account the need to apply (or encouraging the application of) resources where the need is most pressing and the likely benefit will be greatest.  

6. The Agency sees its own role as to:

a. provide direct training only where it is uniquely placed to do so, and where others are unable to deliver in the short-term; b. support selected training providers, on a time-limited basis, to fulfil well specified high and medium priority needs; c. influence the training programmes and activities of other bodies so that as wide a range of needs as possible is catered for;  

7. The draft strategy at Annex 1 explains the range of training needs that we anticipate for a range of audiences, and how they might be met.

Next steps

8. The strategy will be finalised following advice from the Forum. Training delivery will begin in September 2001, and will be reviewed next spring. 

Annex 1 

DRAFT ACCESS TRAINING STRATEGY 

What is the objective of this training strategy?

1. The aim of our training strategy for those involved in the provision or management of countryside access is to ensure that adequate training is available for those who need enhanced skills or knowledge to help implement and manage new arrangements for access to the countryside.

Why is training needed?

2. We foresee the need for training for several purposes, including to ensure:fair and consistent use of statutory duties and powers by those with responsibility for establishing or managing access. (Examples of this might be training in the process of authorisation of maps, decision making on restrictions and closures, the operation of local access forums, the completion of definitive maps of rights of way and the creation of dedications);that the leaders of groups closely interested in the process of creating or modifying access are adequately informed, so they can lead effective and constructive participation by the wider community of interest. (Examples of this are the national and regional staff of user and land management groups);that those involved professionally in managing access have the knowledge and skills to help make it work on the ground. (Examples of this might be local authority staff, staff from organisations that own or manage large areas of access land and members of land management professions).

What will the Countryside Agency do itself?

3. The Agency would like to support and encourage a wide variety of training for a number of purposes and audiences. This will require action by a number of organisations, including the Agency. Our direct participation and support in training will focus on the areas described below. The extent of our activity will be determined mainly by the availability of resources for this purpose.

4. The Agency will train those of its staff directly responsible for the execution of statutory duties, for liaison with interest groups and for putting in place the machinery for the implementation and management of access to the countryside. This will take a variety of forms, including training in statutory procedures, training in the handling casework, training in participation and consultation processes and media training.

5. The Agency will work with other organisations (and in particular the Countryside Council for Wales, National Park Authorities, the Forestry Commission, English Nature and English Heritage) with similar or allied responsibilities to ensure consistency and efficiency in the operation of the procedures we are responsible for. This may involve training in the use of a shared 'Desktop Access Management System' (DAMS) being developed by consultants.

6. The Agency will contribute material and a limited amount of staff time to help in the training of local authority staff involved in access management, though it will expect the authorities concerned to take responsibility for the organisation and resourcing of such training. Similarly, we intend to provide advice and material to support the training of key members of local access forums, organised by the responsible authorities. As part of our general advice to local authorities on access implementation, we may include advice on the content and structure of training for their own staff, and members of local access forums and others.

7. The Agency will consider sponsoring the organisation and running of standardised short courses by accredited training organisations, for people closely involved with access implementation (like land managers, local authority staff, voluntary sector leaders and land management professionals). Some examples of the sort of courses we are considering are given in Table 1 below. Places on these courses might be available on a cost recovery basis for professional participants, or on a subsidised basis for voluntary sector participants. Our capacity to support the organisation of such courses and the pricing policy we can accommodate will be determined by the availability of resources for this purpose.

What might others provide?

8. Other organisations will play an important role in meeting training needs. We will encourage third party training through the provision of some basic material, advice on course content and guidance on training needs. Where resources allow, we may sponsor some training provision where a critical need is being met, and where full cost recovery is not feasible. 

9. We expect local authorities to take responsibility for training for:their own staff involved in access and rights of way management, including their responsibilities for rights of way and as 'access authorities', and key members of the formal local access forums they set up.

10. The Agency is supporting voluntary groups and others to help accelerate the re-discovery of 'lost' rights of way, to make so called definitive maps more complete. Training for researchers will be an important part of this work. We also intend, in partnership with local authorities, to provide training for definitive map officers to improve the process of evaluation of evidence.

11. The Agency is currently considering what its involvement might be in training for those responsible for the provision of local access advice to land managers.

How will we ensure that good quality training is provided?

12. For Agency staff with responsibility for the production of provisional maps of access land we will provide the necessary training directly or through specialist training providers. The Agency will discuss with partner organisations the scope for joint training of the staff of the various 'relevant authorities' in the administration of the restrictions regime for access land, including the interpretation of primary and secondary legislation and the use of the access management system (DAMS).

13. The Agency will work with local authority training providers to support the provision of training for key members of local access forums, local authority staff.

14. We will make our own training and information material available as a training resources and adapt materials from our direct training programme to support the programmes of other organisations. We will make use of electronic and web-based materials where possible, which are easy to update and cheap and accessible to reproduce.

16. The Agency will consider supporting the training activities of other organisations with a role to play in the implementation of the legislation. We are considering contracting regionally-based support for this purpose, to make the best use of our resources. This support might include:regional training co-ordinators to provide generic training advice and contributions to training programmesinformation and other materials to enable a nationally consistent approach by other training providers, andaccreditation services and advice for the Agency, when considering support for third party training programmes.

When should the training happen?

17. Training will need to be available to coincide with main events in the implementation process. Table 2 outlines the timetable for the main elements of the programme up to March 2003.