Consultation
From GPG
Contents |
Internal Consultation
Consultation may be internal or external. The majority for usual rights of way work is external but internal consultation should not be forgotten as it can be important to integrate policies and strategies or to ensure that other departments are aware of what is happening, for example in development control, greenspace, parks and estates, education, health, transport. Many authorities find this process difficult but if resources are to be used to the best effect it is important.
Colleagues in archaeology and conservation or ecology can be particularly important in cases on sites of sensitivity and their input at an early stage can help speed up the approval process by ironing out problems in proposals before submission to English Heritage/CADW or Natural England/Countryside Council for Wales.
The key to building relationships across departments can be through elected members or senior managers but is most likely to be through personal contact.
An important relationship is that between the rights of way section and the Local Transport Plan (LTP). Advice on how the two plans should be integrated and examples of good practice are under LTPs.
DEFRA have published guidance for local highway authorities on ROWIPs and Local Transport Plans (LTPs). This guidance reminds authorities what the ROWIP progress report should include, and gives advice on what the high level statement of policy and objectives for improving rights of way should include. It gives examples of good practice and addresses other issues which should be addressed.
Importance of other plans and strategies
A wide range of other plans and strategies in addition to the Local Transport Plan are likely to be relevant. Identifying and then developing the links to this wider family of plans, although time consuming, has been shown by the demonstration authorities to be among the most worthwhile aspect of developing a ROWIP, leading to potentially significant benefits to the whole of the authority's rights of way work.
Developing a rapport with the officers responsible for these other plans has often helped generate a wider appreciation of the importance of the path network across the whole authority, increasing the profile of rights of way work in general and enabling it to be brought properly into the corporate culture of the authority rather than being seen as a fringe activity. This has helped to open significant new funding opportunities for rights of way along with the potential for rights of way to complement other initiatives by the authority often at relatively little cost.
Because each of the authority's other plans and strategies will be prepared and reviewed following a different timetable, it is likely to take a number of years before the ROWIP can be fully integrated into the wider family of plans at a corporate level. But developing the links with the officers responsible, generating awareness of the ROWIP process and the key rights of way issues especially at a strategic level has invariably been beneficial.
Identifying and developing the links in practice
There are many plans and strategies prepared by a range of different bodies and operational at a number of levels, which affect or could potentially be useful to the development of the path network. They include:
- The Community Strategy
- County Structure Plan and Local Plans
- The authority's Cultural Strategy
- National Park, AONB and Heritage Coast plans
- Regional and sub-regional development strategies
- Regional and local public health strategies (especially those proposing or developing walking for health initiatives)
- Regional rural action plans
- Community forest plans
- Regional and local tourism strategies
- Minerals and waste plans
- Environmental development or protection plans, such as those for river corridors.
It may not be possible to consider every plan in detail so if necessary try to be selective by concentrating on identifying the "key levers" that are relevant to rights of way in other policies. At the same time, it will be helpful to make a note of:
- The plan or strategy's relevance, or potential relevance, to rights of way including any common themes, issues or goals
- The name of the officer(s) (and, for external documents, the body) responsible for its preparation and revision
- The plan's operational period, date of preparation and when it due to be revised
- In the case of the authority's own plans, its status and "position" in the strategic hierarchy
- The scope for linking the plan to rights of way or the ROWIP, the potential benefits and what is needed to bring this about.
Setting out the details of each plan in this way will give a clear overview of all possible links, their potential benefits and the respective priorities, both in terms of the timescale and likely impact. Similarly, drawing up an overall chronology will be useful. The timetable for the LTP and Community Strategy will be particularly important.
External Consultation
External consultation is likely to begin with statutory consultees and may end there, but there are many other possibilities depending on the project or case. Whoever the consultee, the following points should be considered:
- Avoid restrictive conditions on email messages that prohibit circulation of that message to others represented for their views.
- Ensure that the consultee has the information needed to respond properly. Remember that he may be the national representative of a big organisation and unlikely to know of your proposal. This includes:
- Ensure that maps fully identify the area concerned at least with grid references but significant placenames are also useful and best of all, an inset map or second map showing the location of the large scale proposal at a scale that easily identifies the location. It shouldn't be necessary for your consultee to use online map sources simply to find out where your proposed path change is located!
- State the powers under which the order will be made. This is crucial because the criteria for assessment differ.
- State on what aspects you are inviting commments, eg relevant evidence for a DMMO not desirability.
- Explain the reasons behind the proposal, eg the background to a Traffic Regulation Order, don't just list the options in the wording of the relevant law.
- Give long enough for a response from consultees who may meet necessary associates only once a month or more rarely - be aware of your consultees' processes for response to consultations.
The Rights of Way Review Committee has a practice guidance note on consultation.
Site Notices
Site notices are an important facet of external consultation for rights of way as they are the most likely to reach the users of a path who may otherwise be unaware of your proposal despite parish council and user group consultation.
Unfortunately, the legibility of site notices is rarely considered and it is a fact that many people out and about may not be equipped with spectacles or magnifying glass so your notice could easily be impossible to read by those most likely to need it! While the statutory wording is required on site, do consider enlarging at least the text describing the change, or posting an additional notice which states in plain English and large clear font what is proposed. If in doubt as to its legibility, ask anyone in the office who uses reading spectacles whether they could read it without assistance at a comfortable distance!
Recommendations are:
- point size minimum 14
- non-serif mid-weight font (eg Verdana)
- high contrast black on white
- avoid block capitals, italics and underlining
- 1.5 leading (gap between lines)
- even word spacing (ie. not justified text)
Further guidance and details can be seen on the RNIB website.
Local Access Forums
Advice on involving the Local Access Forum (LAF) is contained in the LAFs & ROWIPs signposting guide.
Information about LAFs in England can be found on Natural England's website.
Information on LAFs in Wales can be found on Countryside Council for Wale's website
Statutory Consultees
For public path and definitive map orders an authority should have a standard list of consultees to which locally important groups may have been added. It is important to remember that user group representatives may not always be very typical of users - most of the people using the rights of way network will not be members of the Ramblers' Association or the British Horse Society so local consultation for some proposals may be critical. It should also be remembered that even the Parish Council or Parish Meeting response may not be truly representative of the local population. This is where easily legible site notices are particularly important.
Users' Representatives
The Ramblers' Association (The Ramblers' website has an impressively comprehensive list of useful links including local authorities, government agencies, and many more.)
Land Access & Recreation Association (LARA)
The Peak and Northern Footpaths Society
The Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC)
Landowners and Managers
Country Land and Business Association (CLA)
Access for All Groups
The Fieldfare Trust
The Sensory Trust
Nature Conservation
Countryside Council for Wales (CCW)
Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH)
