Guidance Notes for Parish Councils

THE GRANT

The grant will be spent on the following types of work on REGISTERED PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY, provided the bid is in-keeping with the envisaged programme. However, the County reserves the right to reduce bids if they are considered to be too high or if funds are limited.

• Survey of the network.
• Maintenance of field-edge paths, ie a twice-yearly cut.
• Clearance of vegetation (not overhanging vegetation, which is the landowner's responsibility).
• Repairs to stiles and gates.
• Replacing stiles with kissing gates.
• Waymarking.
• Construction of small bridges.
• Maintenance of existing bridges.
• Promotion of paths through production of leaflets, interpetation boards or events.

This work may be tackled by:

• volunteers
• farmers/landowners
• employment of a handy person
• individuals, eg Rights of Way wardens

In addition, the following expenditure would be considered eligible:

• purchase or hire of equipment and safety clothing (tools to remain CCC property)
• reasonable volunteers' out-of-pocket expenses
• insurance of volunteers and equipment
• training courses
• clerk's fees - a supplement of up to £50 can be included to cover P3 administration, if undertaken by the Parish Clerk, and insurance if required

PAPERWORK

Whilst we aim to keep paperwork to a minimum, there are some forms which need to be compled. The forms can be downloaded from the Publications panel on the right.

• Parish Path Application Forms.
• Parish Path Agreement.
• P3 Work Proposed for year.

The P3 Work Proposed form should be completed once you have carried out an initial survey of the path or paths you wish to improve. It is intended to indicate the work you plan to carry out, your initial thoughts on who might undertake it and the likely costs involved.

Show all the proposed work, even if no money is involved in carrying it out, for example negotiation with landowners, guided walks and any other activities that you want to achieve under the scheme (see example form).

Please also specify any work that you would like the County Council to undertake on rights of way. For example, grass-cutting, large bridges, signposting, surfacing, etc.

We will need to agree your proposal in order to allocate a place in the scheme for you.

If you require help completeing the forms, please contact the P3 Officer in Countryside Services.