• Horse riding leaflet
• The Cut Riverside Path
• Winkfield Bridleway creation
• Priory Fields bridleway
• Horseshoe Lake permitted bridleway
• Sandhurst Footpath 2
• Warfield byway and bridleway network
• Definitive Map review
Minutes:
a) Horse Riding Leaflet – Forum Members were shown the new “Horse Riding in Bracknell Forest” leaflet which detailed bridleways, byways and restricted byways open to horse riders within the Borough. Feedback and comments on the leaflet should be made to Sally Coulson and the Forum agreed that this was a good start to the provision of information for horse riders locally.
b) The Cut Riverside Path – the Forum discussed exactly what the intention/aspiration was with regard to this path. Issues such as potentially undermining work being done by local landowners for local wildlife and the cost of fencing and public liability insurance were all acknowledged as important. The Forum therefore agreed that it would be best to pursue joining the footpaths in the more urban parts of Bracknell Forest to make a riverside path. The Forum would also work to ensure the continuation of the path was built into the amenity plan for the urban extension planned in the North of the Borough.
c) Winkfield Bridleway Creation – the Forum was advised that as part of an original planning scheme, there was an existing agreement which gave 25 years to establish a bridleway, however, as it stands, this would be a dead end bridleway. Consequently, there are three possible approaches to this issue to be considered:
i) Do nothing
ii) Continue to pursue the bridleway as a project and pursue identifying and establishing a connection to the wider access network
iii) Create the bridleway as a dead end bridleway
The Forum discussed the available options and considered the bridleway too important to do nothing. It identified that in the current circumstances, it would probably be very difficult to link the bridleway to the rest of the network. The Forum therefore agreed to pursue option three and pursue the bridleway as a dead end bridleway. Although it was acknowledged that there were difficulties managing a dead end route, it was hoped that in time the connection to the wider network could be pursued. The Forum therefore needed to investigate funding to establish the bridleway, possibly via S106 Funding.
d) Programme of Work for 2007/2008 – the Parks and Countryside Manager advised the Forum that a process of identifying S106 Funding for recreational and green space continued and prioritising work projects had been completed. The proposed work programme for 2007/08 included:
· £60,000 for the development of the Met Office site to include renewal of the play area at Deepfield Road
· £85,000 to undertake habitat management works with the Wildlife Trust at Wildmoor Heath
· £10,000 to make improvements to the habitat at Chaucer Woods (between Wellington College and Crowthorne High Street)
· £20,000 to carry out surfacing improvements to the permissive bridleway at Horseshoe Lake
· £20,000 to undertake surfacing improvements on the Warfield area bridleway
· £24,000 to make surface improvements to the urban footpath in Sandhurst (Footpath 2)
Linked to this work was the issue of future funding of such work. The Local Development Framework (LDF) Spatial Planning Strategy was looking at strengthening the negotiating position of the planning authority to increase developer contributions for residential development which would be used towards areas of work such as the ROWIP and biodiversity action plans.
e) Priory Fields Bridleway – the Forum was advised that improvements had been made to these playing fields using S106 money. The gates to the site remained closed at present to allow the reseeded site to establish and future additional development would be staggered. The next stage was work on the bridleway link from the car park to the Hedge Lane bridleway network, which was currently being costed and funding investigated. The timing of this work would depend upon the scale of the work required and consequent cost and a possible application for funding from Natural England was being considered.
The Forum asked for details around where most of the funding for Parks and Countryside work came from and was advised that capital projects were generally funded by:
· S106 money
· BFBC Capital Programme
· Heritage Lottery Fund
f) Definitive Map Review – the Forum was advised that Sally Coulson was still progressing this and it would be updated on this work in due course.