Warwickshire wins national praise for countryside action
Warwickshire County Council is setting the national standard that many other local authorities will follow when it comes to countryside access and rights of way.
The county council has just won national praise from the Countryside Agency for the publication of its Countryside Access and Rights of Way Improvement Plan 2006-2016
James Marshall, senior countryside officer with the Countryside Agency, said: “In the case of the Warwickshire plan, not only was the council the first to produce such a clear and well structured document in the West Midlands, it was also one of the first to produce in the whole of England.”
The Agency has congratulated the authority and the Rights of Way team at Warwickshire County Council for producing such a `comprehensive’ plan, particularly with nothing to benchmark against.
He added: “I am pleased to inform Warwickshire County Council that the Countryside Agency is using the plan as a model of best practice within, and outside, of the region. We particularly liked the innovative way in which the team undertook the public consultation and were impressed by the high response rate achieved.”
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “I’d like to add my congratulations to the Rights of Way team here in Warwickshire. There are hundreds of miles of footpaths and byways winding their way through the Warwickshire countryside, and for the team to have developed a plan which is now getting national praise and attention is tremendous.”