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Integrated Access Demmonstration Project Icon

Access All Areas

Lancashire Integrated Access Project

Lancashire has a long history of countryside use access campaigns in the south of the County predated the famous trespass campaign on Kinder Scout by over 30 years. It is the only Shire County to make substantial use of the powers granted in the 1949 National parks and access to the Countryside act to secure access to upland open country.

The County boasts a diverse countryside but is probably best known for the Pennine uplands in the south and east of the county and the Forest of Bowland.

There is a good network of public rights of way in most part s of the county along with a number of Country Parks, picnic sites and other countryside sites for people to enjoy.

The closure of many of these areas in 2001 as a result of foot and mouth restrictions graphically demonstrated how important the countryside is to people for recreation and to the rural communities for their economic survival.

The Countryside and Rights of Way act 2000 urges highway authorities to respond to the need for this access and reflect where people want to go in the countryside and what they would like to find when they get there.

To demonstrate how access can be improved for everyone the Countryside Agency has asked Lancashire Countryside service test out some ways of turning the act into action. This is the Integrated Access Demonstration Project

The Lancashire Programme In Lancashire the main aims of the project are to:

• Devise ways to carry out Demand and Supply Audits on a countywide basis and demonstrate how the information can then be used to complete a Rights of Way Improvement Plan for the County.
• Investigate different ways of achieving real improvements in the Access network including negotiation both direct and through user groups, arbitration to resolve long standing difficulties, and targeted used of the powers available to local authorities.
• Demonstrate the integration of access with conservation and land management on privately owned land and to examine the issues that will arise as a result of the designation of Open Access land.
• Investigate different methods of information provision including the Internet.
• Investigate innovative ways of funding access improvements.

The Countryside and Rights of Way act 2000 Part I and Part II contains measures to improve public access to the open countryside and registered common land and amends the law relating to public rights of way.

The Act aims to improve access provision to better reflect the needs and demands of the local users of the countryside. The provisions made in the Act will be phased in.

The designation of new areas of "open country" likely to be complete by 2005 is one aspect of the act that has attracted all the headlines and will obviously have a big impact in Lancashire. The new legislation also requires Highway Authorities to prepare Rights of Way Improvement Plans that will set out how improvements to the access network will be prioritised over a ten-year period.

In the meantime the Countryside Agency has initiated the Integrated Access Demonstration Projects.

The Countryside Agency believes that an area-wide and planned approach is the way to deliver more and better access.

Integrated Access Demonstration Projects will consider the demand for access from all types of user, including walkers, horse riders, cyclists and people with physical disabilities. They will investigate new sources of funding for access and look at ways of improving information and advice for visitors. We aim to demonstrate how access improvements can benefit local communities and economies.

The Integrated Access Demonstration Projects have been set up nationally to develop opportunities to show how improvements in access to the countryside can be delivered, through a variety of methods, to meet the requirements of the local communities and users. There are six projects throughout the country that are working with different partners and are concerned with different aspects of countryside recreation.

The Project is sponsored by the Countryside Agency.

About the Integrated Access project in Lancashire

In Lancashire the main aims of the project are to:

• Devise ways to carry out Demand and supply Audits on a countywide basis and demonstrate how the information can then be used to complete a Rights of Way Improvement Plan for the County.
• Investigate different ways of delivering real improvements in the Access network including negotiation both direct and through user groups, arbitration to resolve long standing difficulties, and targeted used of the powers available to local authorities.
• Demonstrate the integration of access with conservation and land management on privately owned land to examine the issues that will arise as a result of the designation of Open Access land.
• Investigate different methods of information provision including the Internet.
• Investigate innovative ways of funding access improvements.

Achievements so far

Demand Audit - Countywide demand audit completed by consultants.

Cycling Demand Study - commissioned following full audit in response to lack of information about cycling in main audit.

Access Audit - methodology for parish-based audit devised and tested on 14 selected parishes. County Wide Audit including consultation with user groups now under way. Open access Pilot Study in Bowland - working with private landowners and conservation interests to asses the likely implications of the open Country legislation. Physical improvements, funded through partnership with the local landowner and the Countryside Agency, to a path in Rivington responding to a demand identified through an audit of the local path network.

The route is now fully accessible, links a car parking area to the Vistor Centre and Caf, and avoids the need to use a busy road with a poor accident record. The land owner has dedicated the path as a public right of way.

(External)

Countryside Agency Logo Link (External) Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 ( External link see terms )

Usefull Links

(External) http://www.walkswithbuggies.com *
(External) http://www.walkswithwheelchairs.com *

*External Site - See Terms

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