Contact: Cath Hart, Rights of Way ext 7221

1 Summary

1.1 The County Council is required to establish a Local Access Forum by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; the forum will advise on and promote improvements in access to the countryside. This report asks members to consider a proposed membership selection process which aims to ensure fair and transparent appointment to a Local Access Forum for Hampshire. The proposed process is based on the draft regulations currently available, and may need to be revised by officers when the final regulations are published by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

1.2 The Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage has asked for the comments of the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee on this report before making his decision.

2 Background

2.1 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (`CROW Act') requires the County Council as a local highway authority to appoint a Local Access Forum. The duty of the forum as described in the Act is to advise the County Council, and any other body which has functions relating to access over land in the county, on the improvement of public access to this land for the purposes of open-air recreation and the enjoyment of the area. In preparing this advice, the Local Access Forum shall have regard to the needs of land management and the desirability of conserving the natural beauty of the area, including the flora, fauna and geological and physiographical features of the area. The recipients of advice from the Local Access Forum are required to have regard to this advice in carrying out their functions.

2.2 The membership of the forum should be balanced between different interests, principally those of land owners/managers and those of recreational users of the land; it is a non-political body. The requirement for balance is important to ensure that fair, workable and consistent advice is given on what can be sensitive issues.

2.3 Portsmouth City Council and Southampton City Council are also required to set up Local Access Forums. The draft regulations allow authorities to establish joint forums and it has been agreed that it is appropriate for one forum to cover all three authorities, to be known as the `Hampshire Local Access Forum'. As this authority's area contains the large majority of rights of way and countryside open to the public falling under the remit of the forum, the County Council has agreed to enable and administer the forum; the other authorities will be required to contribute financially to the running of the forum in recognition of this.

2.4 When the New Forest and South Downs National Park Authorities are in place, they are required under the CROW Act to establish their own Local Access Forums. The plans for establishing the New Forest National Park are now well advanced and so it has been decided that a separate sub-group will be set up within the Hampshire Local Access Forum; this will form the basis of a New Forest Local Access Forum which can separate from the Hampshire Forum at the appropriate time and will ensure co-ordination in the meantime.

2.5 A sizeable Working Group, comprising a good range of stake-holders in the county, was formed and has met twice to consider how the requirement to set up the forum may most effectively be implemented for Hampshire. This group has agreed recommendations for the remit and structure of the Local Access Forum which will be incorporated into the process of establishing the forum.

2 Discussion

2.1 The draft regulations allow a good degree of flexibility to the three appointing authorities in the establishment and operation of the forum. With regard to the establishment of the forum, the regulations require that:

· The forum is a statutory body which the councils as appointing authorities must ensure is reasonably balanced between the interests of users and of land managers.


· Appointing authorities must appoint persons to them who appear to be representative of users of local rights of way and of the new `access land' arising from the CROW Act, and owners and occupiers whose land comes under either of these categories.


· Appointing authorities must also appoint persons appearing to them to be representative of other interests which those authorities consider are especially relevant to the area. This could include tourism, conservation, or transport, for example.


· The forum should comprise 12-15 people ideally and a maximum of 20 persons.


· In the case of a joint forum, no more than two of the members may be Councillors.


· An advertisement should be placed in local newspaper(s) giving members of the public the opportunity to apply; the councils may additionally invite nominations from such bodies as they consider appropriate.

2.2 The selection procedure is to be determined by the appointing authorities. As the final regulations have yet to be published, there is no experience to draw on from other authorities.

2.3 The Working Group agreed that the selection procedure should be open and transparent. To this end, the selection criteria and process will be available for public inspection and the opportunity to stand for the forum will be widely publicised.

2.4 The Constitution of the County Council at Part 2, Chapter 1, Paragraph 3.2 indicates that in consultation with the minority parties the appropriate Executive Member may select appointees to an outside body.

2.5 Combining the requirements of the Local Access Forum draft regulations, the County Council Constitution, and the recommendations of the Working Group, the following selection process is commended to members for approval:

a) The County Recreation and Heritage Officer will convene a small group of officers, including representatives of both City Councils. This group will follow all relevant regulations and guidelines to agree selection criteria, the contents of an application form, text for advertisements in the local press and for letters to all known contacts who may be interested in applying. Once the closing date has passed, the group will examine the applications and make recommendations for membership of the Local Access Forum.


b) The officer recommendations will form a report taken to Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee, who will examine them to ensure that the criteria for appointments have been adhered to, and make comments as appropriate.


c) The report and the comments of the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee will go forward to Councillor Waddington as the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage for his decision. Once the decision has been made, the applicants will be informed.

2.6 The process detailed in the above paragraph is designed to meet the draft regulations for Local Access Forums. This report has been written in advance of the publication of the final regulations as one of the duties of the Local Access Forum is to comment on the draft maps of open land; these are due to be published on 24 June 2002 and so preparations need to be made now in order to meet this date. Should the final regulations necessitate changes to the process, it is proposed that officers be permitted to do this without further reference to the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee or formal involvement of the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage.

2.7 Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils are being consulted on the above process.

2.8 The Countryside Agency, as the body supporting the establishment and operation of Local Access Forums across the country, has been consulted and finds the process acceptable.

3 Conclusion

3.1 The council is required to establish and administer a Local Access Forum. It is proposed that a joint forum be established with Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils. It is important that the selection process is transparent, and that the resultant forum is able to provide balanced, workable advice to the County Council and other bodies. Following examination of the relevant Act, draft regulations from DEFRA and discussion by a Working Group set up in Hampshire, a proposed process for selection of members of the forum is described in this report.

5 Recommendations

5.1 That the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage approve the following recommendations:

· That the selection process for appointments to the Hampshire Local Access Forum as outlined in this report be approved.


· That preparatory work on this process now commences.


· That the County Recreation and Heritage Officer be permitted to make revisions to the selection process necessary as a result of the publication of the final regulations by DEFRA without further approval by the Recreation and Heritage Policy Review Committee or the formal involvement of the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage.


Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

1. Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000

2. ` Proposals for regulations on Local Access Forums under sections 94 and 95 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000', published by DEFRA

3. Minutes of the Local Access Forum Working Group meetings