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Click to view footpath minutes in PDF or Word formats July 2009 PDF Word
SHERSTON PARISH COUNCIL Minutes of the meeting of the Sherston Footpaths Group Present: 1. Apologies. Apologies had been received from Andy Osborn, Stan & Pat Bunce, Sue McKechnie, Richard Skeffington and Kath & Steve Sheard. Martin Rea welcomed Chris Edgecombe as a new member of the Group. (for Group information his email is chris.edgecombe@renishaw.com). 2. Approval of Minutes of 24 June 2009. It was noted that the date on the Minutes was incorrectly given as 24 May, but the contents of the Minutes were approved. 3. Walks Booklet. Phylip reported that he had done a village walk with Cilla Liddington and Richard Skeffington. They were collecting history facts and making notes of interesting points that can be included in the booklet. Richard will put together a village commentary. Based on the font discussions at the last meeting, Phylip has made up a dummy. He has also made up dummy maps with photos dropped in. We had talked about producing a ‘style guide’ for the walks descriptions but Phylip thought that if we just got all the necessary text in from all the contributors, then we can ‘tweak’ the copy later. Phylip has various costings which he will discuss with Martin, as it will be relevant to the grant situation. The possibility that we should produce two options, one with and one without a plastic pouch was discussed. Martin reported that Wiltshire Area Board (Miranda Gilmour) was aware of the booklet and she wills co-ordinate funding with him in due course. Roughs will need to be prepared for submission to the meeting in late October of the Area Board when the grant application will be considered. Martin confirmed that any grant would usually need to be used within 12 months of it being granted. Before we fixed the routes of the walks (problems permitting) Jay made the suggestion that option given for Walk 4 Long (Willesley) which made it a bit longer but which probably produced a more satisfying walk. Also she suggested that the option that Richard had given for Walk 2 Short was worth including. Therefore, both these options should be included as the preferred route. Problems The Problems Sub-Committee had met. Andy had produced a very comprehensive spreadsheet of all walks and problems. Jay felt it should be adapted to the format that the relevant Wiltshire Council department had been used to using. As some of the problems occurred in neighbouring parishes, we need to email Luckington & Sopworth Parish Clerk and Chairman of the Parish Meeting for Easton Grey, using information extracted from the spreadsheet. We also need to liaise with landowners to try and resolve problems. Grid references can be transported onto the maps to identify actual location of specific problems. Jay reported that on Walk 3 Long there were serious problems including the Fosse Way, which is used by off-road vehicles. There must be a warning flagged for walkers to be aware of this and be cautious. Conclusions: Nigel suggested and the Group agreed that we must prioritise the walks that we were going to include in the Booklet. Jay and Steve said that they would work on the spreadsheet so that it can be sent to WCC plus information of previously reported problems. Martin would ask for a meeting so WCC can start working on most important problems. Jay, Steve and Phylip would set up a meeting and prepare maps of the ‘definitive’ walks, which could then be copied and used to prepare WCC brief and for the ‘guinea pig’ walkers. Sue McKechnie suggested that we should ask for ‘guinea pig’ volunteers to use the designated routes and then they can comment and report back to us. Jay suggested that maybe an A3 map could be included in the booklet. Phylip will Jay also asked if we were going to sell the Booklet online. It was felt that it could be available thorough the Parish Website so web address should be given on the Booklet. People could also use the website to report any problems they encountered.
Sadly the representatives missed the last appointment! However did come out circa mid-July. Martin met them at the Grove wood with James Smith and David Hibbard. 5 Liaising with Landowners / County RoW Dept. Martin has prepared a letter to relevant landowners describing the remit of the Footpath Group. He felt that the piece in the Cliffhanger re dogs should provoke some response. (Anyone wanting to report dog problems should be referred to the Parish Clerk.) There would be a sentence in the letter saying ‘if you are going to be included in the Booklet you will be contacted separately’. It was proposed that an A3 version of the appropriate map with RoW marked should be included with the letter. 6. Grove Wood Martin reported that there had been 70 entries for the childrens’ logo competition. 7. Carnival Walk / Monthly Walk Sue reported that around 14 people turned up for the Carnival Walk. The following is from her email of 26 July. “As I will not be at the meeting Wed. I thought I would let you know my thoughts on the walk. Apart from 1 young couple the age range was 40 -80 at a rough guess. This reflects, in my experience, the usual age range of walking groups and holidays. The first walk 2 years ago had lots of children, the 2nd none but it was foul weather and only a few die hards came. If the aim is to get children walking I suggest that the parents/scouts/guides are approached to lead it or drum up interest. If this is not a priority as there is plenty for kids in the B & C programme then continue with a pensioner leading it! The majority of the participants were not very involved elsewhere in the week of festivities so it filled a niche. A suggestion made by one of the participants was that we had a walk monthly, say 1st Sunday a.m. in the month which was greeted with enthusiasm. How about us doing the 10 walks in the booklet, each led by the person/s who described it? Either starting this autumn to whip up enthusiasm for the booklet or wait until publication and start them with loads of publicity for both.” Maggie suggested that monthly walks might be a bit much and perhaps we could have walks on the traditional Quarter Days. This was thought to be a good idea and Martin said that perhaps Cross Quarter days could be included, making eight walks per calendar year with a ‘seasonal’ theme. 8. Matters Arising Apparently some members of the Group did not get the Tree Warden report from Irene and Maggie undertook to send it around again. Footpath 20 – Martin reported that WCC had the matter in hand i.e. as regards the nearby planning issues. Parish Council have agreed that they will pay for the frame for the map in the bus shelter. 9. Any Other Business Jay wanted confirmation of a correct name – was it Back Rill Lane or Backer Hill Lane. Back Rill Lane is correct. Martin suggested that Joyce Gleed might be a source of local names that could be interesting. It was suggested that Richard could be asked to research this further. 10. Next Meeting Wednesday, 9 September, 2009 at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.
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