Expenditure on rights of way
Dear Norfolk County Council,
Please provide the following information on your footpaths (as recorded on the definitive map and statement), bridleways, restricted byways, byways open to all traffic, and unmetalled roads :
1: The total number and total length of the public highways in each category
2: The total number in each category that have a metalled surface
3: The number in each category that are subject to permanent traffic regulation orders
4: An expenditure summary showing the public money spent on maintaining each category over the last ten years (or as far as records are reasonably available if less)
5: A summary indicating how much of the above expenditure went towards providing or maintaining a metalled surface
In requesting this information, I believe the work involved falls within that provided by the relevant Act. Should you consider otherwise, please provide a detailed account of your reasons.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Jones
Dear Mr Jones
Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-562088-P0L6T2
Thank you for your request for information received on 23 May 2022.
We have up to 20 working days in which to deal with your request.
If we require clarification of your request we will contact you to explain
this, and the 20 working-day period will then start from the day that we
receive your clarification.
We will inform you in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of
any information, and we will provide an explanation if any information
which we hold is not released to you.
If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we
may need to seek their views before we can decide whether or not to
release the information to you. In such cases we will not share your own
personal details with third parties.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email at [1][Norfolk County Council request email] or by telephone
on 01603 222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
Dept: 01603 222661
Bay 7-9, Ground Floor, County Hall, Norwich
[2]Norfolk County Council [3]Twitter[4]Facebook[5]Web
Dear Mr Jones,
Environmental Information Regulations Request ENQ-562088-P0L6T2
I refer to your request for information dated 23^rd May 2022.
You asked for:
1: The total number and total length of the public highways in each
category
Our response:
The surface condition of public rights of way should enable use by the
public at the level of the minimum-recorded right. The following lengths
are based upon Mayrise Highways Management System records 17 August 2021.
┌────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┐
│ │Public Right │Length (km) │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│1 │Footpath │2723 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│2 │Bridleway │587 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│3 │Restricted Byway │520 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│4 │Byway Open to All Traffic │63 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ │Total │3896 │
└────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
Highways have some roads which are unmetalled. This amounts to 635km of
soft road with vehicular rights.
2: The total number in each category that have a metalled surface
Our response:
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Metalled (5A) │
├────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┤
│ │Public Right │Length (km) │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│1 │Footpath │195 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│2 │Bridleway │45 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│3 │Restricted Byway │68 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│4 │Byway Open to All Traffic │6 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ │Total │315 │
└────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│Unmetalled (5B) │
├────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────┤
│ │Public Right │Length (km) │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│1 │Footpath │2528 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│2 │Bridleway │542 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│3 │Restricted Byway │452 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│4 │Byway Open to All Traffic │57 │
├────────────┼─────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────┤
│ │Total │3580 │
└────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────┘
3: The number in each category that are subject to permanent traffic
regulation orders
Our response:
Your request has been considered and is refused under section 12 of the
Act. In accordance with the Act, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
This is because the cost of locating and retrieving the information
exceeds the "appropriate limit" of £450 as stated in the Freedom of
Information & Data Protection (Appropriate Limit & Fees) Regulations 2004.
This information is not held in a reportable format. Gathering this
information would require compiling a list of each Public Right of Way and
each Byway Open to all Traffic along with its relevant parish. It would
then require a manual review of every Traffic Regulation Order, many of
which are in paper format. This would be a significant undertaking vastly
exceeding the appropriate limit.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the
cost of locating and retrieving the information to within the "appropriate
limit". Please contact me if you would like some advice on refining your
request.
4: An expenditure summary showing the public money spent on maintaining
each category over the last ten years (or as far as records are reasonably
available if less)
Our response:
We cannot split down Public Rights. Note this does do include PROW
bridges etc
Year total
2011-12 £47,419
2012-13 £125,099
2013-14 £210,793
2014-15 £210,460
2015-16 £202,839
2016-17 £226,611
2017-18 £128,125
2018-19 £171,654
2019-20 £128,903
2020-21 £150,373
5: A summary indicating how much of the above expenditure went towards
providing or maintaining a metalled surface
Our response:
Your request has been considered and is refused under section 12 of the
Act. In accordance with the Act, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
This is because the cost of locating and retrieving the information
exceeds the "appropriate limit" of £450 as stated in the Freedom of
Information & Data Protection (Appropriate Limit & Fees) Regulations 2004.
This information is not held in a reportable format. Gathering this
information would require a manual review of each item of expenditure,
over a 10-year period, to determine if the work was related to a metalled
surface. This would be a significant undertaking vastly exceeding the
appropriate limit.
You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the
cost of locating and retrieving the information to within the "appropriate
limit". Please contact me if you would like some advice on refining your
request.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting
out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:
[1][Norfolk County Council request email]
or Information Compliance Team
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH
An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "EIR Appeal".
If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the appeal procedure, you may apply
to the Information Commissioner for a decision whether your request for
information has been dealt with in accordance with the Regulations. Refer
to the ICO Website at: [2]https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how
to report a concern. Or you can write to them at:
First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane, Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Stringer, Information Compliance Officer
Strategy and Transformation
Dept: 01603 222661
County Hall
[3]Norfolk County Council [4]Twitter [5]Facebook [6]Web
[7]Campaign Logo
From: Freedom of Information
Sent: 23 May 2022 14:00
To: '[FOI #863857 email]' <[FOI #863857 email]>
Subject: ENQ-562088-P0L6T2 Environmental Information Regulations-
Expenditure on rights of way
Dear Mr Jones
Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-562088-P0L6T2
Thank you for your request for information received on 23 May 2022.
We have up to 20 working days in which to deal with your request.
If we require clarification of your request we will contact you to explain
this, and the 20 working-day period will then start from the day that we
receive your clarification.
We will inform you in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of
any information, and we will provide an explanation if any information
which we hold is not released to you.
If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we
may need to seek their views before we can decide whether or not to
release the information to you. In such cases we will not share your own
personal details with third parties.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email at [8][Norfolk County Council request email] or by telephone
on 01603 222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
Dept: 01603 222661
Bay 7-9, Ground Floor, County Hall, Norwich
[9]Norfolk County Council [10]Twitter[11]Facebook[12]Web
Dear Norfolk County Council,
Thank you for your response to my FOI request. I am understandably disappointed that you gave a section 12 refusal to some of my questions as I believe there is a reasonable public interest in discovering how much of the PRoW network is open and accessible. And the amount of work permitted by the Act is large
However, I believe a reasonable compromise is achievable by refining question 3, as you suggest
Q3: For each of the categories below, please provide the number that are subject to permanent traffic regulation orders.
In the unlikely event that the work is likely to exceed the maximum permissible by the Act, please adopt the following refinement. First, provide an answer on category a). Then if work permits, provide an answer on category b. And so on, stopping work when the maximum permissible is likely to be exceeded.
a) Byways Open To All Traffic
b) Restricted Byways
c) Bridleways
d) Footpaths
Yours sincerely,
Mr Jones
Dear Peter Jones
Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-572311-B2M8W4
Thank you for your request for information received on 13 July 2022.
We have up to 20 working days in which to deal with your request.
If we require clarification of your request we will contact you to explain
this, and the 20 working-day period will then start from the day that we
receive your clarification.
We will inform you in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of
any information, and we will provide an explanation if any information
which we hold is not released to you.
If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we
may need to seek their views before we can decide whether or not to
release the information to you. In such cases we will not share your own
personal details with third parties.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email at [Norfolk County Council request email] or by telephone on
01603 222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team, Insight and Analytics, Strategy and
Transformation
Tel Dept: 01603 222661
County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich
Dear Peter Jones
Environmental Information Regulations Request ENQ-572311-B2M8W4
I refer to your request for information dated 13^th July 2022
You asked for:
For each of the categories below, please provide the number that are
subject to permanent traffic regulation orders.
In the unlikely event that the work is likely to exceed the maximum
permissible by the Act, please adopt the following refinement. First,
provide an answer on category a). Then if work permits, provide an answer
on category b. And so on, stopping work when the maximum permissible is
likely to be exceeded.
a) Byways Open To All Traffic
b) Restricted Byways
c) Bridleways
d) Footpaths
Our response:
Your request has now been considered and is refused. In accordance with
the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (the Regulations) this
letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
Exception
Regulation 12(4)(b) provides that a public authority may refuse a request
for information where the demands of that request can be deemed to be
manifestly unreasonable.
Reason
Although the EIR does not have a regulation regarding cost, the
Information Commissioner advises that the Freedom of Information & Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit & Fees) Regulations 2004 can be reasonably
used as a guide. The "appropriate limit" as stated in these regulations,
is £450, which is equivalent to 18 hours of officer time.
Norfolk County Council does not hold an electronic list of all Traffic
Regulation Orders. This information is therefore not held in a reportable
format. To gather the requested information, for any of the listed
categories, or for only Byways restricted to all Traffic only, the Council
would need to review each parish file. There are 544 Parishes in Norfolk,
each has a hard copy file that would need to be checked for historic TROs.
These files vary in size and at an estimated average of 10 minutes per
review, gathering the information would require around 90 hours of officer
time. This significantly exceeds the appropriate limit as stated above.
Public Interest Test Reasons
There is always a public interest in ensuring transparency in the dealings
of the Council and for the discovery of public rights of way. However, to
comply with your request would constitute an unreasonable diversion of
resources and place a significant and unnecessary burden on the Council
over and above what we are required to do under the law.
Norfolk County Council has considered "the size of the public authority
and the resources available to it, including the extent to which the
public authority would be distracted from delivering other services" and
have determined that, to spend the time required in collating the
information for this request would severely impede the ability of the
authority to deliver key services.
Advice and assistance
Although you have narrowed the scope of your request, this does not
necessarily assist with reducing the time required to respond. As
explained above, all TROs for each category you have requested; Byways
Open to All Traffic, Restricted Byways, Bridleways, and Footpaths, would
be held in each parish folder. This therefore means that gathering the
information for one, or all, of the categories, would exceed the
appropriate limit as a full search of each parish folder would be
required.
The Council could provide the requested information were you to list
specific parishes or areas of interest. This would limit the number of
manual searches of parish files required and therefore reduce the time
needed to undertake this work.
If you are dissatisfied with our handling of your request you have the
right of appeal through the Council’s internal review procedure by setting
out the grounds of your appeal in writing to:
[1][Norfolk County Council request email]
or Information Compliance Team
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH
An appeal should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this
notice and should be identified as "EIR Appeal".
If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the appeal procedure, you may apply
to the Information Commissioner for a decision whether your request for
information has been dealt with in accordance with the Regulations. Refer
to the ICO Website at: [2]https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ for advice on how
to report a concern. Or you can write to them at:
First Contact Team
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane, Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Lawrence Stringer, Information Compliance Officer
Strategy and Transformation
Dept: 01603 222661
County Hall
[3]Norfolk County Council [4]Twitter [5]Facebook [6]Web
[7]Campaign Logo
_____________________________________________
From: Freedom of Information
Sent: 13 July 2022 11:42
To: [FOI #863857 email]
Subject: ENQ 572311-B2M8W4 Environmental Information Regulations-
Expenditure on rights of way
Dear Peter Jones
Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Information Request ENQ-572311-B2M8W4
Thank you for your request for information received on 13 July 2022.
We have up to 20 working days in which to deal with your request.
If we require clarification of your request we will contact you to explain
this, and the 20 working-day period will then start from the day that we
receive your clarification.
We will inform you in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of
any information, and we will provide an explanation if any information
which we hold is not released to you.
If the requested information contains references to any third parties, we
may need to seek their views before we can decide whether or not to
release the information to you. In such cases we will not share your own
personal details with third parties.
Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the
team by email at [8][Norfolk County Council request email] or by telephone
on 01603 222661.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team, Insight and Analytics, Strategy and
Transformation
Tel Dept: 01603 222661
County Hall, Martineau Lane, Norwich
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Robert Whittaker left an annotation ()
Regarding your request for TROs on Public Rights of Way, you may be interested in a request I made a few years ago at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t... .
It contains more information about how the TROs are stored (in files by parish), and why it would be time consuming to search for them. I got distracted by other things and never followed up further. However, as I think you suspect, most (if not all) TROs affecting Rights of Way are likely to be on Byways Open to All Traffic (BOATs). I believe that there are only around 50 parishes in Norfolk with BOATs.
Given NCC's estimate of 1/2 hour per parish from my previous request, and the FOI limit of 18 hours, you would need to split the list of parishes in half, and make two separate requests. You'd need to make them at least 60 days apart so the costs can't be aggregated. I should be able to provide you with a list of the parishes with BOATs if you're interested. (I can query a database I maintain to help map Public Rights of Way in OpenStreetMap: https://osm.mathmos.net/prow/progress/no... .) If you do get any of this information, I'd be very interested in getting hold of a copy too.