EXMOOR National Park Authority can continue their rights of way and access services, which have been under threat. It all happened due to additional Council funding and a one-off Defra payment.
Despite their own challenging financial circumstances, Somerset and Devon County Councils have agreed a significant uplift in the contribution they make, and this welcome news has allowed Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) to plan to keep the Public Rights of Way (PROW) maintenance duty for at least the next three years; albeit with some reduction in service.
PROW maintenance responsibility is a discretionary activity for ENPA, which is taken on through an agency agreement with the two county councils of Devon and Somerset; both of whom make financial contributions to assist with this work.
CEO of Exmoor National Park Sarah Bryan said: “Exmoor National Park Authority has historically provided a first-class Rights of way service, and we are delighted that, with this financial help, we can continue to provide our direct delivery of PROW maintenance.
However, despite this contribution and a special payment we have received from DEFRA, we will still need to make financial adjustments."
Changes to Exmoor National Park PROW and Field Services are-
- Based at the Exford Depot, the 8 strong Field Services team carry out most of the practical works to maintain Public Paths across the National Park; including replacing gates, maintaining drains and path surfaces and cutting back vegetation growth to keep paths open and easy to use.
- The PROW work through the Field Services Team will reduce under current plans, however capacity at the Exford depot will be retained and diverted to maintenance works on the Exmoor National Park estate. This approach aims to keep local jobs and capacity at the Exford Depot.
- ENPA will be reviewing the provision of gates and stiles for stock control on the PROW network.
- The legal duty of the highway authority is to provide farmers with a 25 per cent contribution for the costs of replacement stock control furniture, and ENPA are no longer able to provide full materials and installation costs in all cases.
This approach will be developed over the next 12 months working closely with farmers, land managers and other affected parties.
- There will be a review of the vegetation cutting programme for this coming summer and beyond. This will need to reduce but we will increase our support for volunteers and the local community to get more involved in supporting this work.
- Savings within the Ranger and office-based team will also have an impact, particularly around their capacity to carry out path diversions, legal work, public communication, events management and special projects.
Sarah Bryan added: “We want to thank everyone for their understanding as we work through these changes, and we hope the Exmoor Community and our visitors can collaborate positively with us to find the best way forward.
We plan to expand our volunteer programme and our Caremoor visitor giving-scheme to make it as easy as possible for people to contribute and get involved."
"Please get in touch if you think you can help or have any suggestions, comments or questions relating to this.
This will impact the work we do to maintain our Public Rights of Way, but we are working hard to minimise that impact as much as possible."
To learn more about the Caremoor scheme and ways to donate click here.
To learn more about volunteering opportunities please follow this link.
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