3 Improving planning and project management
11. Natural England were considering a potential
project to open up coastal land to public access. It will be important
to learn and apply the lessons from the Countryside Agency's implementation
of the right to roam across England's mountain, moor, heath, down
and registered common land. The Countryside Agency lacked proper
records management procedures to respond to queries from the public
and inexplicably lost many of the letters received, including
correspondence from the Chairman of this Committee. In addition,
the Countryside Agency significantly underestimated the cost of
implementing the right to roam, with a consequent impact on funding
for other projects. The Agency had estimated in December 2000
that the project would cost £28 million, whereas out-turn
amounted to £52.6 million of Agency expenditure, and a total
cost to central government amounting to £69 million. The
£28 million estimate was a key consideration in deciding
to go ahead with the project, and in prioritising between the
project and the Agency's other responsibilities and initiatives.
In order to fund the higher than anticipated expenditure on the
'right to roam' project, the Agency had deferred work on other
schemes, such as National Trails and Discovering Lost Ways, and
terminated its Vital Villages programme earlier than planned.[13]
12. The Department's 2001 Public Service Agreement
included a timetable set by Ministers for all designated land
to be made accessible to the public by December 2005. In their
haste to deliver the right to roam project in time to meet the
commitment, the Countryside Agency did not adequately pilot test
the work involved and underestimated the cost of key tasks. The
Agency had not carried out a scoping exercise before preparing
its original estimate and it did not know the extent of the work
required to map and designate the land covered by the new rights.
At the time the target was agreed, neither the Department nor
the Agency had questioned the timetable. Instead of a mapping
pilot the Agency had rolled out the project area by area so that
lessons learnt in each area could be applied to the next. The
contract for the mapping was open-ended as it was based on 'day
rates', and costs increased from £5.3 million to £16
million (excluding VAT). The Agency did not pilot the website
on access land. Such an approach would have helped to pre-empt
and resolve before the system went live the difficulties subsequently
experienced by users in locating places to walk.[14]
13. The Agency's Management Board received no specific
written reports on the progress and costs of the project for a
period of eighteen months, from October 2001 until April 2003.
It did not have an open access project board, detailed project
plan or risk register until it began to improve the management
of the project in 2003.[15]
14. Maintaining open access in 2006-07 is expected
to cost some £13 million. At the time of the Committee's
hearing, however, Natural England and the Department were uncertain
of what future money had been allocated to maintaining access
rights beyond 2007. Future costs will include maintaining access,
signage and safety of access land; maintaining and updating the
website, helpline and leaflets; and a re-mapping exercise that
Natural England is committed to carry out in 2016.[16]
13 Qq 2-3, 4-6, 11, 12, 49, 63, 86-7, 94, 103; C&AG's
Report, para 1.6, Appendix 3, para 1 Back
14
Qq 25-6, 50, 65-70; C&AG's Report, Appendix 3, para 4 Back
15
Qq 9, 24, 28-32; C&AG's Report, Appendix 3, paras 6-8 Back
16
Qq 45, 131; C&AG's Report, para 1.6 Back
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