Breadcrumbs
NCAF 12/3 Integrated access demonstration projects
Background
The Countryside Agency has developed six projects with its regional partners to test and then show other authorities how more and better access can be provided for all types of users, from walkers, horse riders and cyclists to people with physical disabilities, by taking an area-wide and planned approach.
They will encourage people to work together across traditional professional and organisational boundaries and move away from tackling different aspects of access in isolation.
All the projects will assess the demand for different kinds of access in an area, investigate new sources of funding, look at new ways of improving information and advice for visitors and show how access improvements can benefit local communities and economies.
In addition, each project will have a slightly different focus (annex 1). They may include incentive schemes to support new access provision and management, improving access to the countryside without a car, increasing access to other types of landscapes such as woodlands and rivers, exploring methods of mediation to agree changes to the rights of way network and working closely with newly formed Local Countryside Access Forums (LCAFs).
The six partnerships are in the North West, Yorkshire and the South East. The projects will run for 3 to 5 years and the findings will be published in 2004.
The regional projects
- Surrey
This project will explore access to the countryside other than by car and link with opportunities provided by the local transport plan. Another objective is to investigate potential economic benefits from access, in particular from countryside tourism. Mechanisms to increase access to private land, especially woodland and land belonging to the Ministry of Defence, will be explored.
- South East Hampshire
A key output is working with the local authority strategic and forward planning departments to ensure good access provision in an area experiencing pressures on land for development. It will also work with private landowners and farmers, helping them with access management planning on their land. As well as examining best practice techniques for open access land, the project will explore how user information can be provided effectively.
- Chilterns AONB
- Lancashire
This is exploring the use of mechanisms to integrate existing open access with the rights of way network and exploring new mediation methods to agree changes to the network more effectively. The project is looking to develop stronger partnerships with private landowners, particularly on moorland. The project will also explore and develop effective approaches to delivering information to the public on what access is available.
- Lake District
This project is building on the authority's experience of managing area-wide access, and exploring the economic benefits of access, such as the visitor payback scheme, and stronger links with the farming community.
- Yorkshire Water
This joint project with the commercial sector, the Yorkshire Water company, aims to develop an approach to area access planning. The project is demonstrating how access to their land holdings can be improved to ensure that conservation and land management interests are not adversely affected.
Annex I Table 1.Integrated Access Demonstration Project Objective Matrix | ||||||
| Regional Pilot Projects | ||||||
| Lancashire County Council | Lake District National Park Authority | Yorkshire Water | Chilterns | SE Hampshire County Council | Surrey County Council | |
| IADP OBJECTIVES | ||||||
Develop and test a range of effective means of evaluating access demand and supply to guide decision making and resource allocation over a range of geographical areas. | ||||||
Sub-regional | l | |||||
Countywide or sub-county | l | l | l | |||
Sub-county or district; | l | |||||
Sub-district eg. Estate level | l | |||||
Protected landscape | l | |||||
Protected landscape - AONB | l | l | ||||
Develop and test methods of creating integrated access plans and strategy's within a range of strategic planning processess | ||||||
Effective strategic mechanisms: | ||||||
Rights of Way Improvement Plan | l | l | ||||
Access plan/strategy | l | l | l | l | ||
Integration with: | ||||||
Local planning process: | n | l | l | |||
National Park Development Plan | l | |||||
Other Strategic planning processes: | l | |||||
Public transport planning | l | l | ||||
Others ie green routes | l | l | ||||
Investigate and test how wider partnerships can help deliver intergrated access | ||||||
Community partnerships | ||||||
New partnerships with large organisations i.e. sponsorship | n | n | l | |||
Local Countryside Access Forums | l | l | n | l | ||
New methods of conflict resolution i.e mediation | l | |||||
Explore how to capture funds from a wide range of sources to deliver integrated access | ||||||
Community funding | ||||||
Stewardship & access Incentive scheme | n | l | l | |||
User group funding | l | |||||
Commercial and sponsorship | l | |||||
Economic benefits from recreation & access | l | n | ||||
Structural funds | ||||||
Lottery support | n | l | ||||
Local authority | ||||||
Landfill tax | ||||||
Test the use of statutory and other mechanisms to increase or improve the physical access resource | ||||||
Permanent dedications (Section 15 agreements) | l | n | l | l | l | |
Existing and new reforms to RoW legislation | l | l | l | l | l | |
Initiatives i.e. Existing agri/envi schemes | l | l | l | |||
Reversion Schemes | n | l | l | |||
Investiage and test effective delivery of advice and information to the public | ||||||
Websites | l | l | n | l | ||
GIS | l | l | l | l | l | |
Plans/strategies/other | l | l | ||||
Show how access can be successfully integrate with conservation and land management | ||||||
Influencing recreational behaviour | l | l | ||||
Unobstrusive methods of managing recreation | l | |||||
Testing statutory instruments | l | |||||
Access on private & agricultural land | l | |||||
Demonstarte how countryside access can deliver social and economic benefits | ||||||
- social inclusion i.e.; | ||||||
Physical barriers | l | l | ||||
Social barriers | l | |||||
Benefits of inclusion | l | |||||
Wider community | ||||||
- economic benefits to; | ||||||
To a local community/area | ||||||
Landowners and farmers | l | l | l | |||
Access authorities | l | |||||
Commercial opportunities | l | l | l | |||
Key to symbols | ||||||
Primary Objective | l | |||||
Secondary Objective | n | |||||
