PROW NEWS – December 2023 UPDATES
Barham CB246 – order made for small diversion to this FP at Ham Farm
The order has now been made to divert this footpath onto an existing track a short way to the east of the present definitive route at Ham Farm – which is just east of Covert Woods. (GR 188 491). No problem is envisaged.
Development issues
Nothing new to report this month. Things still moving quite slowly in this area. The agenda for the December Planning Committee is not yet out.
New OS Explorer Map 125 (covers Romney Marsh, Rye and Tenterden)
An area in which we walk sometimes, the map extending into East Sussex. PROW information updated to 1 May 2023. Perhaps rather an odd choice of update, as fewer recent changes on this one than are needed on most of our local Explorer sheets. RRP £12.99.
KCC News – a few statistics on recent work
Given the lack of other news, I thought you might be interested to see a few statistics supplied by the KCC PROW office at Brabourne, covering the first nine months of 2023:
Budgets: There was actually a slight uplift this year (23/24), but real fears that cuts may be coming soon, given the state of local government finances. Countywide, the annual requirement to maintain the PROW asset in line with the statutory minimum and in a steady state is £3.4M. Next year they may get half that figure. To clear the backlog of 10,000 issues would need approx. £10M. The only good news here is that the size of the backlog, which grew alarmingly during COVID, especially with vacant posts (now filled), is now almost stable.
Issues reported/dealt with countywide:
6,332 issues were reported
6,161 resolved (not necessarily the same issues).
Vegetation problems amounted to more than twice the next most reported issue.
Here in East Kent (handled by the Brabourne office):
1,200 Km of surface vegetation cleared by KCC’s official contractors
614 additional vegetation problems solved (some no doubt by the WC Slashers)
207 fingerposts installed or repaired
146 stile & gate issues investigated and resolved
119 surface issues investigated & repaired or completely replaced
68 crop issues investigated and resolved
68 planning consultations responded to
30 temporary traffic regulation orders (mostly temporary closures) processed
Under the heading of “Enforcement”:
1193 enforcement & protection issues were investigated and resolved, including twelve cases where Formal Notices requiring immediate action were served:
4 for crop obstructions
4 for other obstructions
2 for trees/hedges
2 cases where no immediate response was forthcoming and so direct action was taken (KCC removed the obstruction themselves and billed the landowner)
I hope this gives a little insight into what KCC PROW Officers get up to!
Other Issues
No “new news” this month on any of the outstanding path change issues. However, the Planning Inspectorate’s decisions on the proposed upgradings of status and new byways in the Staple/Goodnestone area are still expected before the end of the year.
As always, if you would like more details about any of issues mentioned above, or any others for that matter, please contact Roger King on 01304 362730, or e-mail roger.rambler89@outlook.com
