This page gives you details about the County Durham Local Access Forum (LAF).
Next meeting
Monday 14 September 2009, 6.00pm venue to be confirmed.
Background
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 require that all highway authorities in England and Wales set up 'local access forums' to advise local authorities and the Countryside Agency or Countryside Council for Wales on access issues including Open access in County Durham and the forthcoming Rights of Way Improvement Plan.
Each forum consists of between 12 and 20 individuals with specific interests in, or knowledge of, issues relating to access. There is a fantastic range of expertise within the LAF, with both user and landowner interests being represented fairly.
County Durham Local Access Forum
Originally, two forums were established in County Durham. The North Pennines LAF covered the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to the west of the A68 and included part of Northumberland.
The County Durham LAF covered the remaining area of the county from the A68, east to the Heritage Coast. The two forums were established in February 2004.
However, in April 2005, it was decided to retain only one LAF for the whole of County Durham, and one for Northumberland.
The County Durham forum meets several times a year and discuss various access issues. The meetings are open to the public and minutes of previous meetings are available below or from the forum secretary. The annual reports of the forum outline its activities and include details of members.
Local Access Forum minutes and annual reports
You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website. Please note that the Adobe Access Plug-in enables visually impaired users to read Adobe PDF documents.
Minutes
Local Access Forum Minutes April 2009 (6 pages,28kb)
Local Access Forum minutes January 2009 (6 pages,38kb)
Local Access Forum minutes September 2008 (8 pages,44kb)
Local Access Forum minutes June 2008 (6 pages,35kb)
Local Access Forum minutes March 2008 (5 pages,35kb)
Local Access Forum minutes November 2007 (5 pages,31kb)
Local Access Forum minutes August 2007 (25 pages,178kb)
Local Access Forum minutes April 2007 (4 pages,30kb)
Local Access Forum minutes January 2007 (4 pages,31kb)
Local Access Forum minutes September 2006 (5 pages,34kb)
Local Access Forum minutes April 2006 (5 pages,17kb)
Local Access Forum minutes January 2006 (5 pages,17kb)
Local Access Forum minutes September 2005 (5 pages,17kb)
Local Access Forum minutes July 2005 (5 pages,17kb)
Annual reports
Local Access Forum Annual Report 2008-09 (11 pages,3579kb)
Local Access Forum Annual Report 2007-08 (8 pages,317kb)
Local Access Forum Annual Report 2006-07 (6 pages,260kb)
Local Access Forum Annual Report 2005-06 (18 pages,761kb)
Local Access Forum Annual Report 2005 (10 pages,1137kb)
Forum Members
- Geoff Hughes(Chair)
- Steve Scoffin (Vice Chair)
- Roger Cornwell
- Bob Pendlebury
- Brian Hodgson
- David Maughan
- Grace Wali
- Marilyn Gibson
- Alan Dougherty
- Neil Gander
- Jim Welch
- Gary Haley
- Robert Kirton-Darling
- Andy Turner (Councillor)
Terms of reference
County Durham Local Access Forum Terms of Reference (3 pages,12kb)
Regional Newsletter
Regional Newsletter of the North East Local Access Forums (8 pages,984kb)
Contact details
Any questions about the forum should be directed to the secretary:
Barry Charlton
Secretary to the Durham Local Access Forum
Resources
Durham County Council
County Hall
Durham
Telephone: 0191 383 4916
A detailed list of England's 81 Local Access Forums can be found on the Natural England, Local Access Forums
Access and Rights of Way home