From GPG

Countryside Agency ROWIP implementation grant publicity statements

West Midlands Region

Two grants totalling £21,850 have been awarded to Warwickshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. With funding from the CA, they are to complete two projects:

• The first will develop a network of multi user routes that will be made accessible for equestrian, cycling and all abilities.
• The second project will develop and promote a series of health walks.

This work will be complete by March 2006.

A grant for £19,750 has been awarded to Shropshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. With funding from the CA, they are to develop a web based public information system to publicise bridleway networks in the county. The work to establish this internet accessible resource will be used for further information on all aspects of the access network. This work will be complete by March 2006.

Eastern region

A grant for £10,000 has been awarded to Suffolk County Council to implement their ROWIP. CA funding will be used to cover works on the ground to improve links on and around the Suffolk Coast Path, which is being lost at an alarming rate to coastal erosion. This is a partnership that also includes the local landowner and the AoNB. This work will be complete by March 2006. A grant for £17,475 has been awarded to Bedfordshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. CA funding will help develop three separate projects.

• The first project is to develop a parish based countryside access planning model. This project will help individual parishes to explore and establish methods of delivering locally derived improvements to the access network, which are identified and prioritised by the communities themselves. This project will be carried out in partnership with Bedfordshire RCC and their parish planning process.
• The second project is to provide information to the public to encourage wider use of the countryside. This will include interpretative panels on countryside site locations which promote the site, its linkages with the wider access network, nature conservation and accessibility information.
• The third project has been developed as part of a partnership with other local authorities in the region. It is to develop a model that would be used to calculate contribution levels that should be sought from new developments. This will be especially useful in the East of England which will be significantly impacted by the Growth Areas identified in the Sustainable Communities Plan.

This work will be complete by March 2006.

A grant for £3,865 has been awarded to Cambridgeshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. CA funding will paying for works to develop a footpath link in the Fens. It's a priority route for the CC as it links the village with a primary school and is the only footpath to a English Heritage owned and promoted Roman Fort site. The CA grant will go towards the costs of staff time, weed killing, surfacing etc. The route is to have a tarmac surface which will make the school and heritage site accessible to parents with pushchairs, toddlers on tricycles, wheel chairs etc. This work will be complete by March 2006.

North East Region

Grant was offered to Durham County Council for a cycling project to upgrade cycling provision in Weardale by improving facilities along the railway line and improving access to information.

East Midlands

A grant for £19,700 has been awarded to Lincolnshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. CA funding will help develop a countryside access website mapping facility. This work will be complete by March 2006.

A grant for £7,300 has been awarded to Northamptonshire County Council to implement their ROWIP. CA funding will develop local mapping and interpretation panels. This work will be complete by March 2006.

The Northants project builds on earlier work by Northants to provide web based info on rights of way.

The ROWIP implementation grant is to provide RoW interpretation/info near where people live as one of the issues picked up in the ROWIP user consultation was that people didn't know what was available on their doorsteps.