Monday 4 August 2014

Countryside Access team (14-Jan to 4-Aug)

My initial query about the Hatches Path was with the Surrey Heath Borough Council. They forwarded my email onto the Surrey County Council...
 
Tues 14th Jan (from Main.Reception@surreyheath.gov.uk)
Thank you for your email. I have forwarded your email on to Surrey County Council, as they are responsible for the road and pavements within Surrey. Their email address, should you wish to contact them direct, is contact.centre@surreycc.gov.uk. Alternatively, you can telephone their Highways Department on 0300 200 1003

I received a response from Terry Wright, Community Highways Officer for Surrey Heath:

Wed 22nd Jan (from Terry Wright, highways@surreycc.gov.uk)
Thank you for reporting this matter.
I have passed your enquiry & contact details to our Rights-Of-Way Team & have asked that they update you after they have carried out the inspection.

I eventually heard back from Luke Dawson, Countryside Access officer, who provided useful feedback. What follows is our email exchanges to date:

Tue 18th Mar (from luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Please accept my apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I have inspected this path as suggested in my initial email to you. I believe that the path will benefit from widening as per your suggestion, however we would look to do this at some future date when the existing path requires repair.

Another opportunity could exist in partnership with our Travel Smart team who focus on improvements along the cycle network. They often receive funding to be spent within a given area, this path would be an obvious choice.

I appreciate you will be disappointed with this response, but I will certainly look to keep this bridleway in mind for future improvement.


Tue 18th Mar (to luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Its good to know its "on your radar" for future improvement. Obviously, I'd like to eventually see a "proper" job done to widen the path with a good tarmac surface, and well marked to help cyclists & pedestrians use the path. I appreciate that this will take some funding, and hope that those can be allocated as soon as possible.

In the interim, if its not too much of a waste of money, would you be able to arrange for the worst of the puddles to get fixed. These are halfway along the path & get very wet & muddy (example on a "good" day). These were created by the workmen installing the lighting a few years ago, and I couldn't believe they left it like that.

To help get this up the list of priorities, would it help if I arranged a petition? I'm sure everyone who uses the path would be very interested in seeing this improvement.
 

Tue 18th Mar (from luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Thank you for understanding the funding situation, but I am keen to keep this bridleway maintained, as it is so strategically important as an off road link across the valley. Having looked at your photo, we have the option of scraping the accumulated surface mud, and look to 'dig' out a small drainage channel to the land adjacent to the path, assuming it lies lower than the path itself (the section to the left certainly looks this way).

Am I right in thinking there are several sections along here which have silted up and suffer with drainage problems? If so, I may need a more thorough look with drainage in mind so that I can create a specification for improvement. If the volume of work required is suitable I should be able to arrange the works with the contractors I have available to me. This is a more inexpensive solution, that should save on you having to prepare a petition.

I shall reprogramme this path for inspection to ascertain the feasibility of simple drainage systems.

Thanks again for your interest in the bridleway.


Tue 18th Mar (to luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Yes, improved drainage would certainly help at the particularly potholed areas which are situated centrally along the length of the path. Big puddles also occur at the very end of the path at the bottom of the hill before the bridge. You may be best to dump some additional aggregate in these puddled spots and/or add the drainage you mentioned. A closer inspection would certainly help. ;0)

Do you think an improved widen path could be achieved by the end of 2015 (next financial year's budget)? When would we know we've been turned down for improvements? The new financial year (2014-15) is coming soon - does the council get its new budget then, or has it already been allocated? I'm just wondering whether we should be proactive to ensure it doesn't get rejected in the first place ;0)

A few months went past and I decided to go ahead & start the blog & petition (can't do any harm). I updated Luke to keep him in the loop...
 
Tue 3rd Jun (to luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Just a quick email to follow up on our discussion a couple of months ago. Did you manage to re-visit the hatches path to see what temporary maintenance could be done?

Meanwhile, to help raise awareness & help prioritise funding, I've started a blog & petition:

The petition has until Nov 16th to gain signatures, so I'm hoping we can show a lot of support from regular users of the path.

I also contacted sustrans on the work they did with Winchester council to improve Route-23...

I'm waiting to here more from them on how they could possibly help with the Hatches pathc improvement, possibly as a joint effort with you guys?

Also, the Hatches path will be discussed at the next Surrey County Council Local Area Committee meeting (3rd July) so we can hopefully raise some awareness/support for it there.

Fri 13th Jun (from luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Please accept my apologies for the delay in writing to you. I did manage to revisit the Bridleway and assess what is required. I also requested additional money to fund the improvement works using a bigger pot of money but unfortunately was unsuccessful this year. However, there are other possible sources of funding which I can explore. In addition to this I can arrange for a scrape of the surface mud to allow the full available width once more, should we be unable to secure monies this year. 

I am glad to hear you have started a petition. I will await to hear more from the Local Committee meeting. 

Thank you for all your efforts so far.


Fri 13th Jun (to luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)
Many thanks for the update. Thanks for being so proactive in trying to arrange funding, etc. Any temporary measures you can arrange while we try & organise funding for a proper shared path would be great!

Following the council meeting (3rd July) I emailed Luke:
Wed 9th July (to: luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk) 
Since we last spoke I wonder have you heard anything about any temporary improvements you guys can make to the path?  Would it be possible to have the grass verges cut back to reveal as much tarmac underneath as possible? I think the path would be much wider if so.

The main improvement after that would be to have the worst of the potholes filled in and/or drainage improved, ready for the autumn rains.

It would be good to have a quick chat sometime about the possible improvements that can be made ranging from temporary to a fully resurfaced path ;0)
...who responded a few weeks later...
Thu 31st July  (from: luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)

Thank you for your email, my usual response time has been delayed further by the current warm weather which is causing a lot of overgrowth on the Public Rights of Way in my management area. So please accept my apologies for the delay. I have scheduled a meeting with a contractor next week to discuss what remedial works are required. I hope the works can be carried out soon after, depending on the agreement of any affected parties. 

If you would like to discuss this more over the phone, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 ...I responded with this...
Mon 4th Aug  (to: luke.dawson@surreycc.gov.uk)

Thanks for your email. Yes, it must be a busy time of year for you guys! I gave you a quick call but it went to VM. I'll try again later or if you get a chance could you call me?

It would be good to have the grass verges cut back as far as the tarmac goes. The other big improvement would be to patch the worst of the potholes (near middle of path where I've put up a petition sign).
 ...and Luke called me shortly afterwards. Luke told me he was visiting the site with an inspector w/b 11th Aug. We discussed the funding issues, etc. He said the CAT work with a small budget and also ask volunteers to help out with some projects. I said I'd like to see what funding the Surrey County Council were prepared to help with and then no help if forth coming we may need to resort to volunteers doing the work.

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