Agenda item

Helen Clayton and Steve Gardner from the Public Rights of Way team were thanked for their informative briefing paper.  uUCRs provided valuable assets which do not have the profile of public rights of way.

Ros Mills, DCC, confirmed that the public rights of way team received a lump sum budget and had to make a balanced decision on funding for rights of way, off-road trails and uUCRs.  More of the highway network had been passed to the PRoW team as some highways deteriorated.  Some discussions had taken place as to whether it was cheaper to resurface some and keep them within the roads team rather than remove poor surfacing.

Reference was made to the Changing Lanes project whereby some surplus roads had been downgraded and not maintained, becoming recreational routes.  Ros Mills said that some routes were popular with cyclists but they did not like the deteriorating surface.  The carbon plan agenda had arisen since ‘Changing Lanes’ which has a particular aim to connect communities without using cars and this could produce some funding if such aspirations were incorporated into Local Cycling and Walking Infrastructure Plans and other plans.

Members raised comments about signage for uUCRs, stating that signs needed to be clear and consistent so that the public are aware of distinctions.  uUCRs were not always clear on maps. Ros Mills said uUCRs in Devon were on the county council’s List of Streets (there was confidence that this designation was correct due to a particular process in the Devon original process to establish the Definitive Map). The OS key depicts these routes in green or red dots depending on the map scale.  She agreed the network had evolved and there would be opportunities to review the signage to be more consistent. It became complicated when public rights of way fed off uUCRs.  It might be possible to link in with the new Countryside Code images in the future.  There is, however, no legal duty to sign roads unlike PRoW where there is such a duty.

Helen Clayton, DCC, clarified that public rights of way were a particular category of highways shown on the Definitive Map, of which Byways Open to All Traffic (BOAT) were one type.  Like uUCRs, these also carried vehicular rights, although are mainly used as footpaths and bridleways.  A BOAT was generally an old road, but one which had not been recorded on the Council’s List of Streets.  PRoW were a subset of highways.

Reference was made to the graph showing ease of use of uUCRs.  It was noted that in some areas degradation of uUCRs had occurred with gullying or poor tarmac.  These required a huge amount of money to achieve a reasonable surface.  Ros Mills said problems could be reported on the DCC ‘report a problem’ webpage so that wardens could investigate any reports. Often dramatic weather events accelerated deterioration.

It was noted that some roads are signed as unsuitable for motor vehicles.  This could be a result of decisions to rationalise the network where budgets were under pressure, maintained solely for residents’ access, (these decisions were made through a local consultation process), or it could be that the route is in disrepair with insufficient funds to maintain at present.  The Neighbourhood Highway Managers were involved in such decisions.  Any Traffic Regulation Orders are available on the DCC website  Search - DCC Services Portal (devon.gov.uk) as was the List of Streets Land charges - Environment (devon.gov.uk)

It was confirmed that uUCRs and BOATS had legal rights for vehicles and the usual driving laws would apply.

Members discussed the range of electronic maps available including the PRoW interactive map and other applications such as Memory-Map and ViewRanger.  These were improving in quality and speed of download.  Google maps did not differentiate between status and Helen Clayton said people could put inaccurate information on Google Maps which presented a new challenge.  People might carry out-of-date maps.

Forum members were reminded that that the legal record is held by the County Council  - this information can be used by the OS and other mapping products (not the other way round).