Dear Sir or Madam,

You report that 48% of public footpaths are open. What are the
reasons for the 52% not being open?

How many are due to obstruction by Development?

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please note that my recent FOI message on footpaths refers to the
Rossendale area, where you have reported that 52% are not open.

Yours sincerely,

geoff

Dear Sir,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 9th November
2008, in which you request the disclosure of information under the
provisions of the above Act.

We are looking into the issues raised and shall contact you again when
we are in a position to respond further. Should we envisage any delays,
or require more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

In the meantime, if you have any queries about the above, do not
hesitate to contact us, quoting ref. RFI 618/2008.

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Freedom of Information Team

Freedom of Information | Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall,

Preston, PR1 8XJ

Tel: 01772 531116 | 01772 530949

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A 4-star council: awarded top marks by the Audit Commission
********************

Dear Sir,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your email requesting information under the provisions of the
above Act, I can confirm we are now in a position to respond to your
enquiry regarding public footpaths in Rossendale.

Lancashire County Council does not hold the information you have
requested, as it is not correct that 52% of footpaths in Rossendale are
'not open'.

The figures which you mention in your enquiry have come from Lancashire
County Council's Countryside Service Website which published the Best
Value Performance Indicator (BVPI) figure for public rights of way in
Lancashire. The BVPI survey measures the ease of use of the Public
Rights of Way Network and is an estimated percentage of the public right
of way network that is easy to use based on a random survey of 5% of the
network (2.5% in the spring and 2.5% in the autumn).

The figure recorded in the latest BVPI survey for 2007-2008 in relation
to Rossendale is 48%, indicating that this is the percentage of easy to
use public rights of way in Rossendale. This does not mean that the
remaining 52% are obstructed or closed, merely that they are not classed
as 'easy to use'. This could be because there are missing signposts or
way marks, sections of surface may be muddy or prone to flooding or, in
some cases, simply because the trodden route on the ground does not
exactly match the route recorded on the legal maps.

It is no longer a government requirement to carry out the BVPI survey;
however we have decided to continue as it is a useful measure of how we
are progressing. 242 survey questionnaires were completed by visitors
who frequented our most popular recreation sites during the period April
2007 - March 2008. Of those, 95.5% rated their experience as either
'very good' or 'good'. This is an increase on last year's satisfaction
rate of 92.25%. This consistently high level of overall satisfaction is
a status we work hard to uphold and improve upon with over 5500
kilometres of public rights of way in Lancashire to maintain.

We trust that our response is to your satisfaction, but in the event
that you wish to complain about the manner in which your enquiry has
been handled, you should write in the first instance to The Freedom of
Information Officer, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall,
Preston PR1 8XJ, or email [Lancashire County Council request email]
<mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]>

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to
refer the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details
are as follows:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545700

Email: [email address]

Website: http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Should you have any queries about the above, do not hesitate to contact
us.

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Freedom of Information Team

Freedom of Information | Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78,

County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ

Tel: 01772 531116 | Fax: 01772 530949

show quoted sections

A 4-star council: awarded top marks by the Audit Commission
********************