Agenda and minutes

Lara Dominguez

Chris Thompson

Nick Hynes

Margaret Knowles

Of the meeting held on 19 April 2019 (for confirmation)

Subject to including Mike Mewse, as in attendance, the minutes of the meeting held on 10 April 2019 were confirmed as a true record.

Presentation by Keith Morgan, Nottingham City Council Transport Strategy

Keith Morgan, Principal Transport Planner, delivered an update presentation on the Cycling and Road Space Transformation, a copy of which is available with the initial publication of the minutes.

The following points were highlighted and questions from the forum responded to:

(a)  Grant funds have been achieved to establish and improve the cycling and walking infrastructure within the City, and has been allocated to schemes including :

o  The Boots Enterprise Zone Bridge (to be named after Stuart Adams who developedibuprofen), which will connect the Boots Campus to Highfields Park over the railway lines, and includes other connecting paths;

o  Local Cycling Walking and Investment Programme;

o  Transforming Cities Fund Tranche 1

o  Transforming Cities Fund Tranche 2

(b)  A 15 year programme of cycle infrastructure improvements are being progressed, and to date funding up to March 2023 has been secured;

(c)  There will be a refreshed approach to a walking programme which is still being developed Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plan with a walking audit which is considering destinations and journey, including links to bus stops and also identifying corridors for walking into the City. Suggestions from citizens would be welcomed;

(d)  Ideally City citizens should not have to walk more than 400m to reach public transport and whilst this is mostly possible, where it is not, the barriers need to be identified and where possible, addressed;

(e)  Although there may have possibly been potential to incorporate a footpath along the tram bridge which links Arkwright Walk to the Lace Market, as it was not considered at the design stage, it is not feasible to include post construction without significant and unavailable cost. In addition, citizen consultation found that ground level paths in the area will be more attractive once the Broadmarsh development is completed;

(f)  New pots of funding are emerging which will be broader reaching with eligibility criteria beyond the current restrictions of commercial growth and job creation, but the City Council priorities can change dependant on whether funding can be achieved. What may be a high priority will remain a high priority but other ‘lesser priority’ works may be undertaken sooner if funding can be achieved;

(g)  The walking Audit will identify destinations and links between town centres/district centres, parks, green spaces, employment and study centres and areas of proposed development;

(h)  Nottingham City Council is working closely with Derby City Council within the framework of D2N2 to further improve public transport links between and around the cities, including cycle and footpath routes. The map within the presentation illustrates the Tranche 1 priority schemes within each City, and further priorities once funding can be secured.  It has been proven in other areas of grant funding applications that where collaboration and co-ordination on this scale can be illustrated, applications have a higher chance of success;

(i)  £8.8m grant funding has been secured along with approximately £2.5m allocated for cycling and walking improvements, the majority being allocated to the improvements along Farnborough Road and the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 88.

Further to the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), Catherine Ziane-Pryor, Governance Officer, briefly outlined to the Forum that, as set out in the Local Access Forum (England) Regulations 2007, that as the meeting is open for members of the public to attend, the minutes of meetings are publicly published on the City Council website, members of the forum explicitly need to be aware that this includes their names and sometimes comments credited to them.

With regard to any presentations to the forum during the public meeting, such as sub-group updates, these are considered as accessible to the public and so care must be taken to get formal agreement that everybody who’s image appears in photographs of group events, is happy for their image to appear in the public domain and that a record is retained of this permission. (A permission slip will be available from John.)

A summary sheet including guidance and points for consideration, will be circulated to all members shortly by John Lee. Any queries not covered within the summary sheet can be directed to either Catherine or John.

Liz Cordle, provided a brief update on the walks subgroup activity since the last meeting and included the following points with contributions from other members of the forum:

(a)  The Bestwood walk is nearing completion and requires confirmation of the route and a condensing of the description. However, prior to issue, the assistance of forum members who have not previously been involved in this walk is requested to help finalise the end product. Nigel Sarsfield and Mike Mewse have kindly offered their services;

(b)  Once the route, description and points of interest have been finalised, good quality photographs of the route are required. Any members interested in offering such support should please contact Liz Cordle;

(c)  Initial work has started on a Bulwell walk which will be somewhat longer than many others produced by the group;

(d)  Other walks in other areas are under development and any further forum members interested in joining subgroup would be most welcome;

(e)  To date five walks have been completed and are issued on the LAF website;

(f)  There is an intention to ensure that the maps on the website are printer friendly;

(g)  Ian has led several walks, including during the Sherwood Art week, all of which were well received;

(h)  Lara Dominguez has also worked to promote walks to university students;

(i)  Further potential walk routes include St Anne’s, Bilborough, and Basford.

AGREED to note the update and thank the members of the walks subgroup for the achievements to date.

Although absent from the meeting, Margaret Knowles had provided jointly with a summary of the planning subgroup progress and activity.

The following points were highlighted:

(a)  Consultation on the Nottingham Local Plan Part 2 concluded on28 June and if legally compliant and sound, the final report is predicted to be issued in late Summer and formally adopted by the Council in Autumn 2019;

(b)  A rota of two members of the sub-group continue to inspect Planning Applications each month;

(c)  Volunteers are needed to help draft responses to NNC consultation which runs until 9 August 2019 on draft Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) and a draft Statement of Community Involvement (SCI), including:

(i)  The Provision of Open Space in New Residential and Commercial Development SPD;

(ii)  Biodiversity SPD;

(iii)  Draft Statement of Community Involvement.

(d)  The most poignant focus for NLAF is the Draft Statement of Community Involvement as it provides clarity on the extent of community involvement that will take place during the preparation of planning documents and the determination of planning applications. It sets out clear consultation procedures and minimum standards the Council will follow.

In response to the request from the chair to support Margaret, volunteers who are willing to help consider the consultation documents include Dave Mackrory, Ian Bussey and Helen Hemstock.

Steve Rhodes and Dave Mackrory commented that open space around developments should also be considered with planning applications as access to open space is important on several levels.

AGREED

(1)  to note the update and thank the members of the planning subgroup for their activity and achievements to date;

(2)  for John Lee to circulate Margaret’s planning subgroup update;

(3)  for any forum members interested in joining the planning subgroup should contact Margaret Knowles or John Lee.

Mike Mewse presented the Definitive Maps Subgroup Update and reported that there are several ongoing applications for definitive map modification orders, including Greyhound Street and Parliament Terrace. Sussex Street has now been recorded on the definitive map and statement as a footpath.

The claimed footpath running west from London Road to Robin Hood Way / Queens Drive is well used by cyclists so has most likely acquired bridleway status.

Each application takes approximately a year to process in full but further routes for consideration include Winchester Street and Old Coach Road and along the River Leen from Wilkinson Street to Church Street.

Chris Thompson , as a member of the Ramblers Association, requested that the issue of the 2026 cut-off date is raised as the Ramblers Association are lobbying for it to be extended with no cut-off point. John Lee commented that politicians were discussing proposals to apply the Deregulation Act to make applications simpler and enable compromise between the applicant and landowner. Once enacted, Forum Members will be informed.

Members of the Forum noted the update and acknowledged the ongoing hard work of the definitive Map Subgroup.

Ruth Thurgood updated Forum members on the activity of the Neighbourhood and Environment Subgroup, including the following points, with additional information from Sub-Group members:

(a)  Activity had mainly focused on litter picking and being involved with local Councillors and Officers;

(b)  More members would be welcomed to make a larger local impact;

(c)  Councillors have been very supportive in the Wollaton area and litter picks regularly take place in Wollaton Park;

(d)  Previous litter picks have been held in the Sherwood area;

(e)  Attending Councillor Ward Walks has provided a good opportunity to meet local Councillors and explain the role and activity of the NLAF and build connections;

(f)  Litter remains the re-occurring focus of the group but there is also potential to talk about how the sub-group could influence pollution and several ideas have been discussed;

(g)  There is an ambition for promoting a healthy environment and the health benefits of walking and the possibility opportunity of an article in a local gardening newspaper is welcomed;

(h)  Publicising the good work of the NLAF ‘brand’ in a positive way will be helpful.

With regard to positive promotion of the Forum, John Lee suggested that whereby Natural England used to request an annual report from NLAF which was then uploaded to their website, this was no longer the case, but the Chair and Joint Vice-Chairs have agreed that an annual report of the Forum’s activity will be circulated to Councillors, particularly as there are 20 newly elected City Councillors. This will help raise the profile of the NLAF and possibly help with future funding for walk leaflets.

Members of the Forum noted the update and acknowledged the ongoing hard work of group members.

RESOLVED for an Annual NLAF report to be produced and circulated by John Lee to the LAF members for approval.

Hugh McClintock and John Rhodes provided an update on the Trent Basin to Lady Bay foot/cycle Bridge, including the following points:

(a)  Members of the group have worked closely with several City Council and Blueprint Officers to provide supporting information for the feasibility study which has then been taken forward to support funding bids;

(b)  There has been a change to plans and it is now proposed that the north landing of the bridge is moved to the west of the basin. This means that the supporting information needs to be revised and initial timelines will slip;

(c)  John Rhodes has liaised with the land owner of the sports ground to the north who supports the proposal;

(d)  John and Hugh continue to watch with interest other similar bridge schemes developing across the country and Europe, ensuring that lessons can be learnt for this scheme;

(e)  The land owners of the south side landing area appear to support the installation of the bridge and have made positive suggestions;

(f)  No formal comment has been received from Rushcliffe Borough Council, but the draft proposal has been submitted to it requesting feedback;

(g)  The formal support of the NLAF may be beneficial when placing funding bids, along with consultation and evidence from other user groups;

(h)  The new Chief Executive of Blueprint is fully aware of the proposed scheme and appears to be supportive.

Forum members thanked Hugh McClintock and John Rhodes for the update which is noted.

Liz Cordle reported that several members of the NLAF attended the event at Vernon Road Park on 15 June which linked into the Clean Air Day.

Unfortunately, the weather was not good and whilst citizen attendance was low but those who turned up seemed to enjoy it.

The event provided a good opportunity to meet partners in attendance, explain about the NLAF and establish connections.

RESOLVED

(1)  For further public engagement events to be considered and any suggestions passed to the Chair and John Lee.

None.

None.