Memorandum submitted by Leicestershire
Orienteering Club (TNF 13)
I would like to make some observations re the
parliamentary inquiry into The National Forest Company.
I have served for 10 years on The National Forest
Access & Recreation Working Party and my emphasis is obviously
on the issue of recreational access to the Forest. I wish to comment
particularly on the impact for walking and other use on foot which
are sustainable and healthy activities that contribute significantly
to Government policies in particular in fighting obesity.
I am also Chairman of the Leicestershire &
Rutland Area of the Ramblers Association and a key player in organising
the sport of orienteering within Leicestershire.
The suggestion in 1990 that there might be a
national forest and that the Leics/South Derbys/Staffs area was
competing for the project, was well received locally on many levels.
It was expected it would be a boost to local economies and help
remove the worse excesses of the old coal mining works, but our
interest and the reason we campaigned for the Forest being located
here was for the improved facility for access and recreation.
The late David Taylor and I (he was Area President of the Ramblers)
have been delighted with the progress and improved opportunities
locally and that organisation is to mark his passing by holding
a David Taylor memorial walk through the areas of the Forest he
came to love.
The RA local area now organise over 1,000 walks
each year of varying lengths and targeted at all sections of the
community and a good proportion of these use "new" area
of the Forest at least in part.
As an orienteering group we have mapped over
70 areas within the Forest and with financial support from the
NFC and local authorities we have introduced permanent public
orienteering courses in nine locations near to more heavilly populated
areas. Permanent public participation and educational permanent
courses are essential to get the wider populous out into the woodlands
taking exercise and enjoying the fresh air and nature's wonders.
With support from the NFC and other institutional input, the Orienteering
Club has made good progress on these provisions. Within the period
2008-13 the ambition is to create orienteering possibilities within
5 kilometres of any large conurbation hopefully including all
those with a senior school.
If we take the major conurbations to be Newtown
Linford, Woodhouse Eaves, Coalville, Markfield, Groby, Ratby,
Ibstock, Ellistown, Heather, Ravenstone, Donisthorpe, Moira, Measham,
Netherseal, Overseal, Ashby, Swadlincote, Woodville, Whitwick,
Bagworth, Thornton, Melbourne, Smisby, Hartshorne, Ticknall, Burton,
Lullington, Edingale, Cotton, Linton, Rosliston, Walton on the
Trent, Tatenhill, Barton-under-Needwood, Alrewas, Yoxall, Hoar
Cross, Needwood and Newborough, only the last 5 are now thought
to be outside this range and Alrewas only by a few hundred metres.
All those not provided for are in the Staffordshire (Needwood)
area of the Forest and the NFC will need to involve Clubs or Local
Authorities from the West Midlands to further progress the matter.
Numerous other areas within the Forest are used
for higher level events and indeed the new Forest has now grown
to such an extent that we staged a British Championships within
the Forest this year. This all attracts "spend" into
the local community and helps publicise the new Forest to a wider
audience.
I also serve as Chairman of the County Local
Access Forum set up under the CRoW Act and can only say loudly
and clearly that all local organisation I have dealings with having
an interest in outdoor recreation feel as one that the work of
The National Forest Company to date has been a very real boom
to the area and good value for money.
That is not to say there could not be improvement
and that there is not still a lot to be done.
Some mechanism to improve connectivity and formal
access is required. The fragmented network of permissive paths
and formal rights of way could be much improved by the creation
of links. In addition parts of the Forest allow access down proscribed
routes but for those interested in the flora and fauna and those
wishing to explore, wander or indeed orienteer, more completely
open access would be welcome. The right to wander at will was
provided under CRoW but some publicly funded parts of the new
Forest do have more limited access. The type of access is critical.
Some early schemes claimed to provide access but merely meant
a path through or alongside from which walkers could look in.
Another area causing some problem for the orienteers
is that of the administration of permissions. To an extent this
also affects other users like horse riders who have to have licences.
Organisations putting on formal events to try
and encourage wider usage do have responsibilities which require
risk assessments, insurance cover etc and at present that means
formal written permission from each of the landowners. As the
Forest has been developed piecemeal (for otherwise good reasons)
this may mean having to approach as many as six different owners
in a small geographical area, which can be a logistical nightmare,
and some form of Forest wide permission system or common licensing
would be a great benefit. NFC should endeavour to persuade all
tender scheme applicants to allow full informal access to individuals
and groups to avoid the need for specific permissions for each
use of every area.
Further I would like a system whereby created
routes could become Definitive Rights of Way, possibly after a
given trial period, so that usage encouraged during the life of
a tender scheme or higher level stewardship scheme could not be
suddenly withdrawn. This will of course mean more money to compensate
land owners but perhaps the time has come to divert more money
to getting better and longer lasting rights to what has been created
in priority over creating more Forest until such time a public
funding makes both a possibility.
It should also be made easier for highway authorities
to create needed links by simplifying legislation and by setting
up a mechanism for arbitration and assessment of realistic compensation
as opposed to allowing land owners to seek ransom monies.
To summarise, The National Forest has had a
beneficial effect on the environment and local economy making
the area more attractive to live in or visit and as an employment
base and should be funded to be able to continue its excellent
work. Most of the shortcomings of The National Forest are outside
their control and government policies need some re-thinking so
that better value for money from the public purse can be obtained.
One specific area which would assist greatly would be for the
Ordnance Survey to be encouraged to be less restrictive about
the use of their maps to promote activities within the forest.
Non profit making bodies and local authorities trying to provide
maps to encourage usage face fairly heavy restrictions and considerable
fees.
Wearing my other hat I do feel more could be
made of the Local Access Forum as an arbiter, or first culling
level, of claims and counterclaims as regards links and rights
of way diversions etc.
Roy Denney
29 January 2010
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