Agenda and minutes

Nick Hynes (due to technical / Zoom issues)

John Rhodes

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2020

With the addition of Helen Hemstock to the attendance list the minutes were confirmed as a true record.

Verbal update from Councllour Sally Longford

Councillor Sally Longford gave a verbal update to the Forum on the Council’s Carbon Neutral plan that was announced in 2019. The Council is working hard towards becoming carbon neutral by 2028, a challenging yet realistic target. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  Prior to this commitment being made there were many positive steps already being taken by Nottingham City to work towards becoming carbon neutral. Nottingham City Council has a history of investing in biogas busses, solar PV panels, and the district heating system powered by the Eastcroft Incinerator;

(b)  The draft action plan was initially launched in January 2020 for a period of consultation. Over 1000 responses from citizens, businesses, partners and stakeholders were received and resulted in a significant redraft of the plan to take into account the responses;

(c)  The final plan consists of a number of chapters addressing different areas for action. The plan can be found here: https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/media/2619917/2028-carbon-neutral-action-plan-v2-160620.pdf

It will be reviewed annually to amend it as different technologies develop and different funding  schemes become available;

(d)  Within the first section of the plan there are various chapters with different focuses for action

·  Transport – focus on increasing walking and cycling opportunities, cutting emissions, improving public transport options, ensuring Council fleet vehicles are low emission. Funding for these low emission vehicles is challenging as is having suitable vehicles available

·  Built Environment – improving the energy efficiency of the built environment, using retrofitting schemes to increase energy efficiency

·  Energy Consumption – increasing reliance on renewable energy, introducing pilots using cutting edge technologies. The two Universities in Nottingham have made similar pledges and are working with the Council on developing technologies.

·  Waste and Water – improving waste and water management to reduce emissions.

·  Consumption – Looking at changes of how and what we consume and how it is produced

(e)  The second section of the plan focuses on Carbon removal and how the Council can promote schemes that uses the land and planted environment around us to remove carbon from the atmosphere, theses schemes need to be sustainable and the target it to plant 50,000 more trees in the City in three years.

(f)  The third section addresses Resilience and Adaptation, looking at mitigating against climate change, and in particular in protecting homes against the increased threat of flooding, and building buildings less susceptible to over heating in heart waves;

(g)  The final section was added following responses from the consultation period - Ecology and Biodiversity. This section addresses the ecological crisis that is faced and aims to tackle the issue of extinction and the plight of the pollinators. During the national lockdown the inability to mow grasses etc was beneficial and helped pollinators. Bee friendly planting will be introduced across the city;

(h)  The plan is a living document and will be changed and assessed regularly. Its in depth nature reflects the support from a wide range of organisations, from the open spaces forum, the green partnership, this Local Access Forum and many more;

Following  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

Verbal update from the Cycling & Road Space Transformation Manager

John Bann, Cycling and Road Space Transformation Manager, gave a verbal update on the LCWIP and active travel funding bids. The forum had previously discussed this matter at their 8 July 2020 meeting (minute 5c). John provided a broad update on the work that has been taking place:

(a)  The LCWIP has been developed with Nottinghamshire County and Derbyshire County councils and Derby City Council, with the first draft being submitted in November 2019. The final draft of the plan was submitted in support of the Emergency Active Travel Fund bid (EATF) - having the draft LCWIP was an important part of preparing the bid;

(b)  The final draft of the LCWIP is still being refined and is not yet a public document. This was made clear in the EATF bid;

(c)  A programme of works is being developed with D2N2 Partners with short, medium and long term projects that are linked to the Transforming Cities programme also currently running and will enhance the work being done through that programme;

(d)  The plan is evolving and will continue to do so as the long term impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic continue to become apparent. At present there is a high level of interest in walking and cycling and investment through the LCWIP will be beneficial for many years to come;

(e)  At present political approval from the 4 authorities is being sought by officers. The document will then have to be approved by the LEP. Following this there will be a period of public consultation. This will not be the first public consultation process for this plan, previous consultations have helped to shape the proposals up to this point. The Plan should be available for consultation before the end of 2020;

(f)  There have been a number of consultation events involving local access forums, stakeholders and partnership organisations. The feedback from these events has gone on to help shape the  involving various interested groups, and Local Access Forums in the development of the plan. District councils have also been engaged, some more than others, but all have been conuslted;

(g)  E-Scooter pilots will be starting in Nottingham City through an approved operator. The Scooters will be limited access, so the pilot will work with certain employers in the City and the scooters will be available for employees to use. They cannot be ridden on pavements and the geo-fencing technology within them ensures that speed restrictions in pedestrianised areas automatically limit the speed the scooter can travel;

The Forum thanks John Bann for his attendance and for the information presented to them as part of the verbal update. 

Members of the Walking sub group provided an update on progress being made in the development of self guided walks.

(a)  The Bestwood walk and the Bulwell walk are now complete in draft from and are on the website as drafts.

(b)  Work continues on the following walks

·  Broxtowe

·  Forest, Arboretum and Mapperley

·  St Ann’s and Mapperley – struggling with an accessible route for all abilities because of the steep terrain

·  Basford

·  Wollaton

These are all at different levels of progress from initial thoughts to close to publishable as draft.

(c)  There various ideas for walks to be developed, interest in developing a walk from the source of the Lean to where it meets the Trent. There is a route along the Gedling Mineral railways track, proposed cycle and walking routes and a proposed Gedling Heritage trails including the tunnels;

(d)  The Walking Subgroup took part in the Carbon Neutral 28 day challenge, thanks to Nigel for creating the film promoting walking and cycling in the city;

(e)  There are currently volunteer opportunities in parks should people be interested in helping those. https://www.parksfornottingham.co.uk/areasofwork/volunteering

(f)  The parks team are also keen to work in collaboration with the Local Access Forum. There has recently been a Parks consultation workshop that LAF members attended, and a member of the Parks team will be attending future meetings to ensure closer links;

(g)  The Nottingham Wildlife Trust and the Local Access Forum would like to work together particularly around the accessibility to their sites. A conversation will be taking place around how the LAF can contribute and support that;

(h)  Hugh indicated that the Walk Leicester news emails have come out, these are circulated to members;

(i)  The forum asked whether the maps for walks could be made available in both PDF and MS Word format as Word is more print-friendly. John Lee will pick this up with the web team;

Margaret Knowles gave an update on behalf of the Planning Sub Group. She highlighted the following points:

(a)  Two large issues need a LAF response putting together, the first being the Planning White Paper consultation, which ends on 29 October 2020, the second is the Broadmarsh Big Conversation which is being launched soon;

(b)  Over the last 3 months there have been 550 planning applications to sift through. Comments have been submitted on a number of applications including:

·  Burrows Court, Windmill Lane – lack of cycle parking, no transport assessment and concern re details of ramped access, landscaping and lighting.

·  Activity centre for the Sea Cadets – no cycle parking

·  Unity Square – Concerned about the proposals which have already been approved.

·  Island Quarter development – A site visit was arranged, planning permission was granted by committee following much discussion. Still feel that ramped access for cycle access should be retained.

·  Radmarsh Road – revisions were made but not significantly enough to change the comment previously submitted by the group.

(c)  Comments were made on the original application for the pathway at Midlands station. Additional information was to be added by the applicants;

(d)  Councillor Linda Woodings confirms that she would send through the Council’s response to the White Paper consultation once it has been submitted;

Chris Thompson informed the group that the sub group work has stalled as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.

John Lee confirmed that he would facilitate a virtual meeting of the sub group to enable a catch up and create a plan to start to move forward again.

Hugh McClintock gave a brief update on the foot bridge project, which seems to be progressing through the formal channels for procurement and tender processes. Further updates on progress around formal planning approval will be brought to the forum as they occur.

He pointed out that there will be expanded opportunities for additional active travel options as well as walking and cycling routes for leisure.

The following items were suggested for future agenda items:

Living Streets – Katie France

Work of Ridewise

Helen Hemstock informed the meeting that he region Local Access Forums Chairs meeting was postponed until later in the year. Papers have not yet been circulated for the meeting, and so Helen has not yet seen the updates from other LAF Chairs.

There have been reports of problems with rights of way through the Covid Pandemic with landowners restricting access. John Lee confirmed that there had been no such problems reported in Nottingham City.

The Enclosure Walk will be launched as soon as possible. Funding is in place and designs for the information boards have been confirmed.

The Basford walk that previously ran from the Wilkinson Street Tram Depot then along the river has now been altered to make it circular and more accessible.

To note the next meeting will take place on 13 January 2021 either via Zoom or at Loxely House, dependant on the situation at the time.

The Forum noted the date of the next meetin 13 January 2021