Surrey Heath Local Committee mtg: Thu 3rd July: Follow up (16th July)

I attended the Surrey Heath Local Committee meeting on Thu 3rd July. The Agenda & decisions are now published:

http://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=144&MId=2891&Ver=4

My question is shown in section 4 (Written Public questions), but there is no public response to the question (as yet).

During the meeting, my question was read out and the chairman, David Ivison, said he had taken a walk along the path the previous day and didn't notice any potholes. I then spoke for a minute, asking the committee to confirm what support they can give to improving the condition of the Hatches path (aka Bridleway BW19). I also suggested to David that he re-try his walk in the autumn after it had been raining. The committee confirmed they will follow up on my question off-line after the meeting.

Previous to the decisions being published, I sent the following emails. First to Luke Dawson (Countryside Access Team) :

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)

...and referenced the above in this email to the committee:

Wed 9th July (to: david.ivison@surreycc.gov.uk & nicola.thorntonbryar@surreycc.gov.uk; cc: chris.pitt@surreycc.gov.uk)
David & Nicola,

Thank you for adding my question about the condition of Hatches Path on the agenda of thecommittee meeting on 3rd July (http://mycouncil.surreycc.gov.uk/mgMeetingAttendance.aspx?ID=2891). I should point out that the wording of my petition "to upgrade" the Hatches Bridleway, is unfortunately misleading. Some people would think this means "change from bridleway to cyclist/pedestrian use only" which is not my intention. I would just like to see the condition of the path improved.

I have contacted Luke Dawson to ask him whether the grass verges can be cut back to reveal the tarmac as much as possible (hopefully the whole width of the path). In addition to this, it would be good to have the worst of the potholes filled in and/or drainage improved. Potholes is perhaps not the best description as the uneven surface is worse than that. My blog includes photos of what the path can look like on a rainy day, so I'm hoping we can get this improved before the autumn/winter months roll in: http://thehatchespath.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/background.html

My petition now has 113 signatures to date, so its gaining a lot of interest. I would like to post an update to my blog of your response on what the council can do to help. Ultimately I would like to know if you can provide financial support to the Countryside Access Team to carry out the improvements:

- if temporary improvements are made, do the CAT use their own funds for this (Luke Dawson did some investigation into this)

- what is the possibility of a fully resurfaced  Shared Use path? i.e.

  - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/9179/shared-use-routes-for-pedestrians-and-cyclists.pdf

   - is this something Andrew Milne could help with?

   - BTW, Nicola's email wasn't included in David's request below (to raise this with Andrew Milne). Is that something you could pursue?

Will you be sending out minutes of the meeting, or posting on-line?  Will this include your response to my question?

...to be continued in next update...