Rights of Way Definitive Statement and GIS data

The request was successful.

Robert Whittaker

Dear Norfolk County Council,

You have previously supplied me with copies of your Definitive Statement [1] and the GIS data [2] describing the Public Rights of Way in the county. The files I have are now a bit out of date, so I would like to obtain updated versions of them. In particular, under FOI/EIR, please supply copies of:

1/ The working copy of your Definitive Statement of Public Rights of Way. (An electronic copy is strongly preferred here. Previously you sent me a number of Word documents divided up by District. This would be fine again.)

2/ An up-to-date copy of the GIS data that is the digitised version of your Definitive Map. (The previous version was released as a KML file. This would be fine, as would any other open GIS format. If in doubt, please me know what would be easiest for you.)

3/ If possible, a list of recent changes (additions, deletions, modifications) made to the GIS Definitive Map and Statement with the dates those changes were made. Just a list with the date, parish and RoW number would suffice here. I would be interested in anything going back to June 2015 for the Statement and January 2014 for the GIS data. If the current GIS data already contains an accurate "last updated" field (as the previous version did) then this will suffice for the latter.

As before, I would also like to request permission to re-use the information you supply in relation to the above under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations. The purposes for the re-use is to (a) improve the mapping of Rights of Way in the OpenStreetMap project, and (b) to allow the information to be further disseminated to the public in convenient open formats. To this end, I would like permission to re-use the information under the Open Government Licence v3. [3]

Many thanks,

Robert Whittaker

PS: Rather than me having to request updates periodically, it would be really good if up-to-date versions this information could be pro-actively made available on your website. If it's not possible to make the live versions available, then perhaps they could be updated quarterly say. If you already have plans to do this in the near future, then please let me know. Depending on the likely time scales, I may be happy to withdraw this request, and wait for the new online versions to appear.

[1] https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
[2] Available online at http://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/inspire/ and https://data.gov.uk/dataset/norfolk-publ... but neither appear to have been updated since around January 2014.
[3] http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

Dear Mr Whittaker,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Information Request ICM 10000

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 received on 29/06/16.
 
We have up to 20 days in which to deal with your request. If we require clarification regarding your request, we will contact you to explain this. The 20 working day period will then start from the day that we receive your clarification.
 
You will also be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying copies of the information.

Please also be aware that, if the requested information contains references to any third parties, we may need to consult these individuals about the release of their personal data before making a decision whether or not to release the information to you.

We will also provide an explanation if any information is not released to you.

Should you have any queries regarding your request, please contact the team by email [email address] or by telephone 01603 222661.

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Cooper
Business Support Assistant (Compliance Team)
Information Management Shared Service
County Hall
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DH

show quoted sections

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

11 Attachments

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

Environmental Information Regulations 2004 – Information Request ICM10000

 

I refer to your request for information dated 29 June 2016.

 

The search for the information has been completed and I am pleased to
supply you with the following information:

 

You asked for: “1/ The working copy of your Definitive Statement of Public
Rights of Way. (An electronic copy is strongly preferred here. Previously
you sent me a number of Word documents divided up by District. This would
be fine again.) 2/ An up-to-date copy of the GIS data that is the
digitised version of your Definitive Map. (The previous version was
released as a KML file. This would be fine, as would any other open GIS
format. If in doubt, please me know what would be easiest for you.) 3/ If
possible, a list of recent changes (additions, deletions, modifications)
made to the GIS Definitive Map and Statement with the dates those changes
were made. Just a list with the date, parish and RoW number would suffice
here. I would be interested in anything going back to June 2015 for the
Statement and January 2014 for the GIS data. If the current GIS data
already contains an accurate "last updated" field (as the previous version
did) then this will suffice for the latter. As before, I would also like
to request permission to re-use the information you supply in relation to
the above under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations. The
purposes for the re-use is to (a) improve the mapping of Rights of Way in
the OpenStreetMap project, and (b) to allow the information to be further
disseminated to the public in convenient open formats. To this end, I
would like permission to re-use the information under the Open Government
Licence v3.”

 

1.    An up to date copy of the definitive statement for each district in
Norfolk is attached as a Word document.  Please note that Norfolk County
Council will be providing links to the up to date definitive statements
for Norfolk in the Public Rights of Way section of its website which
should provide more open access to these documents.

2.    An up to date copy of Norfolk County Council’s public right of way
GIS layer is attached in KML file format.

3.    The data in the KML file attached contains a field titled NE_START_D
which will list the date the public right of way was added to our GIS
layer.  All routes older than December 2012 have a default date of
19/12/2012 which relates to when this particular incarnation of the GIS
layer was created but all routes added since that time will have a more
recent date of when they were added.  Any route added to the GIS layer
will also have been added to the definitive statement and the dates from
the GIS data should be sufficient to identify any routes also added to the
definitive statement. I can also confirm that this data, based as it is on
Ordnance Survey data, is available for re-use and publication under the
Open Government Licence v3.0.

 

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][email address]

or Information Compliance Team

Room 101, North Wing

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 complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner. Contact details as follows:-

 

First Contact Team

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

E-mail: [2][email address]

[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk/

 

Yours sincerely

 

Lewis Freeman

Information Compliance Officer

Information Management Service

Norfolk County Council

County Hall

Martineau Lane

Norwich

NR1 2DH

 

 

--

To see our email disclaimer click here [4]http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

11 Attachments

Dear Mr Whittaker

 

Environmental Information Regulations 2004 – Information Request ICM10000

 

I refer to your request for information dated 29 June 2016.

 

The search for the information has been completed and I am pleased to
supply you with the following information:

 

You asked for: “1/ The working copy of your Definitive Statement of Public
Rights of Way. (An electronic copy is strongly preferred here. Previously
you sent me a number of Word documents divided up by District. This would
be fine again.) 2/ An up-to-date copy of the GIS data that is the
digitised version of your Definitive Map. (The previous version was
released as a KML file. This would be fine, as would any other open GIS
format. If in doubt, please me know what would be easiest for you.) 3/ If
possible, a list of recent changes (additions, deletions, modifications)
made to the GIS Definitive Map and Statement with the dates those changes
were made. Just a list with the date, parish and RoW number would suffice
here. I would be interested in anything going back to June 2015 for the
Statement and January 2014 for the GIS data. If the current GIS data
already contains an accurate "last updated" field (as the previous version
did) then this will suffice for the latter. As before, I would also like
to request permission to re-use the information you supply in relation to
the above under the Re-Use of Public Sector Information Regulations. The
purposes for the re-use is to (a) improve the mapping of Rights of Way in
the OpenStreetMap project, and (b) to allow the information to be further
disseminated to the public in convenient open formats. To this end, I
would like permission to re-use the information under the Open Government
Licence v3.”

 

1.    An up to date copy of the definitive statement for each district in
Norfolk is attached as a Word document.  Please note that Norfolk County
Council will be providing links to the up to date definitive statements
for Norfolk in the Public Rights of Way section of its website which
should provide more open access to these documents.

2.    An up to date copy of Norfolk County Council’s public right of way
GIS layer is attached in KML file format.

3.    The data in the KML file attached contains a field titled NE_START_D
which will list the date the public right of way was added to our GIS
layer.  All routes older than December 2012 have a default date of
19/12/2012 which relates to when this particular incarnation of the GIS
layer was created but all routes added since that time will have a more
recent date of when they were added.  Any route added to the GIS layer
will also have been added to the definitive statement and the dates from
the GIS data should be sufficient to identify any routes also added to the
definitive statement. I can also confirm that this data, based as it is on
Ordnance Survey data, is available for re-use and publication under the
Open Government Licence v3.0.

 

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][email address]

or Information Compliance Team

Room 101, North Wing

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 complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner. Contact details as follows:-

 

First Contact Team

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

E-mail: [2][email address]

[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk/

 

Yours sincerely

 

Lewis Freeman

Information Compliance Officer

Information Management Service

Norfolk County Council

County Hall

Martineau Lane

Norwich

NR1 2DH

 

 

--

To see our email disclaimer click here [4]http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
4. http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

Robert Whittaker

Dear Information Management,

Many thanks for those files and the permission to re-use them -- that's exactly what I was looking for, and they will be very useful in helping to improve the Rights of Way coverage in OpenStreetMap.

One small snag though, the file "GREAT YARMOUTH BC.DOCX.docx" appears to be password protected, and so I can't open it. Would you be able to send me an unprotected version?

Thanks again,

Robert Whittaker

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Whittaker,

Apologies for that - hopefully the attached version of this document will open ok for you.

You may also like to know that the up to date link to our PROW definitive statements (pdfs) through our website is now live via the following page:

https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/out-and-about...

Regards,

Lewis Freeman
Information Compliance Officer

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Freemen,

Many thanks for that file. It's also great that the files are now on your website for anyone to find easily.

I have a few queries about the the Definitive Statements and the GIS data if I may:

1/ The 'parishes' of "Upwell Isle" and "Outwell Isle" are appear to be completely missing from King's Lynn & West Norfolk Statement file, but several paths are recorded under these names in the GIS data. (I realise that these aren't true parishes, but since there are paths in them, there should be statements for them somewhere. The statements do not appear to be included in the Upwell and Outwell sections.) Do you have the statements for these parishes, and can you add them and send me / upload an updated file for the borough?

2/ In the Statement for Yaxham (Breckland), the final three entries RB8, RB9 and RB10 say they are not yet confirmed. Yet these routes appears in the GIS data as if they were. All three routes are shown on the Definitive Map at http://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/definitivemap... . Can you confirm the current status of these routes, and if necessary amend the statement?

3/ In the statement for Watton (Breckland), there used to be an an entry for FP 14, which stated that it was included for "information purposes" and isn't a PRoW. This text has been removed from the latest version, but the route still appears in the GIS data, and it appears on the Definitive Map at http://maps.norfolk.gov.uk/definitivemap... . Can you confirm the status of this route? Depending on whether or not it is a Public Footpath, it should either be listed in both the Map and Statement, or neither. (The route also appears to be recorded as Adopted Footway 3F51 in your List of Streets.)

Many thanks,

Robert Whittaker

Dear Norfolk County Council,

I'd like to follow up on the email I sent to [email address] on 17th August, which can be viewed online at https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r... . All three of the queries in that email contain requests for recorded information, so I believe that under FOIA/EIR you are required to respond within 20 working days.

I believe that this time limit has now expired, yet I do not seem to have had a response. I would be grateful if you could look into my queries at your earliest convenience.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Whittaker

Freeman, Lewis, Norfolk County Council

Dear Mr Whittaker,

I do apologise but I cannot recall ever receiving that email, so I am unsure what happened with it. I will ask the service to answer those questions and I will get back to you.

Regards,

Lewis Freeman
Information Compliance Officer

show quoted sections

Information Management, Norfolk County Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Whittaker

I have had a response from the service to your questions which is below:

1) Upwell Isle and Outwell Isle are parts of parishes that lie in Cambridgeshire but that were transferred to Norfolk as part of county boundary changes in 1990. We recently identified that we did not have complete records from Cambridgeshire, particularly copies of the relevant definitive statements, for all the paths that were transferred and Cambridgeshire have subsequently supplied us with this documentation. Copies of the definitive statements from Cambridgeshire's original documentation are attached, however, we are currently in the process of preparing a modification order so that Cambridgeshire's information is incorporated into Norfolk's definitive map and statement as should have happened around 25 years ago.

2) There are some anomalies within Norfolk's definitive map and statement whereby routes are recorded on the definitive map and not in the definitive statement and vice versa. As you point out routes should either be recorded in both the map and statement or not at all, however, during the process of drafting and consulting on the map and statement when it was compiled in the 1950s and 1960s routes that were added or removed at that time were sometimes mistakenly only altered on the map or the statement rather than both. These sorts of errors can only be rectified through modification orders following research into the situation. Case law states that it is most important for a route to be recorded on the definitive map as the purpose of the statement is the specify details of a route shown on the map. This means that if a route is not recorded on the definitive statement but is recorded on the definitive map then the map can be relied on independently to indicate a route's definitive line and status. The reverse, however, is not true and if a route is not recorded on the definitive map but is recorded on the statement the statement alone cannot be relied on as definitive proof of the existence of the right of way.

All of this means that as Yaxham CRF8, CRF9 and CRF10 are all recorded on the definitive map then they definitively follow the routes shown on the map and were reclassified by the CROW Act 2000 as Restricted Byways in 2006. These are routes that were added to the draft map in the 1950s or 1960s and accidently omitted from the definitive statement. The entries for these routes in the definitive statement are not official statements resulting from an order and should not legally be there, a previous member of staff must have added the descriptions to aid identification but really the statement is not the appropriate place to do this so these descriptions will have to be deleted as they are unsupported by an order. Norfolk County Council will put the issue of the absence of statements for these routes on our list of anomalies requiring modification orders to be dealt with as resources allow.

3) As with the information above for the Yaxham routes, Watton Footpath No. 14 is recorded on the definitive map and so it has a definitive status as a public footpath. This route was also added to the draft definitive map sometime in the 1950s or 1960s and accidently omitted from the definitive statement. The descriptive information that was in the definitive statement for this path was deleted as, similarly to the information for the Yaxham routes, it was not information included in the original draft of the statement or subsequently added by an appropriate order and so should not legally have been in the statement.

The path also has a 'detached footway' centreline on the list of streets data (3F51) as this indicates that the path is surfaced and ensures it is inspected and maintained accordingly.

Regards,

Lewis Freeman
Information Compliance Officer

--

To see our email disclaimer click here <a href="http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaime...>http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer</a>

Dear Mr Freeman,

That's great. Many thanks for the information and the quick response.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Whittaker