Rights of Way (BVPI 178)
Historical Assessment
Milestones
The Milestones Initiative was developed by the then Countryside Commission in the early 1990s, to help local authorities adopt a strategic approach to meet their responsibilities with respect to Rights of Way. In particular, the target was to meet the aspirations first set out in the 1987 publication, Policies for Enjoying the Countryside, namely: the entire rights of way network to be legally defined, properly maintained and well publicised by the end of the century.The initiative was fully adopted by Durham County Council, who welcomed the considerable commitment from the Countryside Commission. In 1996, the County Council published its first Milestones Statement to address the target within its administrative area, which at the time extended to 243, 000 hectares made up of 167 parishes or equivalent statutory areas, spread across eight Districts. The County Council published two monitoring reviews, in December 1997 and March 1999.
The initiative built on the existing Public Rights of Way Development Strategy (1989) and the County Durham Countryside Recreation Strategy (1989–1993).
The Milestones Initiative covered three main target areas derived from Recreation 2000. These were effectively definition, maintenance and promotion. These targets were seen as the separate strands of countryside recreation that required improvement at the time the initiative was launched.
The Milestones Performance Report outlines the considerable improvements that have been made to the network over the period of Milestones. An important financial contribution being made by the Countryside Commission.
In addition the profile of Rights of Way both within the County Council and with the public has been raised both as a result of initiatives such as Milestones.
The County Council will be developing a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to develop the access network to meet the future demands of the public, building on the achievements of Milestones.
Current Assessment
Rights of Way BVPI (178)
In December 2000 the Government published new and revised Best Value Performance Indicators (BVPI’s) in line with its programme to modernise local government. Best Value authorities were under a duty to seek continuous improvements in the way in which they exercised their functions and BVPI’s provided a performance management framework for reporting progress.BVPI 178 will no longer be a national measure of performance from the end of 2007, however at the moment the County Council will continue to use the survey to monitor our performance each year
The indicator is the total length of rights of way, which were easy to use, as a percentage of the total length of all rights of way. Rights of way appear on the definitive map of public rights of way for the highway authority area and are numbered. ‘Easy to use’ means:
- Signposted or waymarked where they leave the road in accordance with the authority’s duty under s.27 of the Countryside Act 1968 and to the extent necessary to allow users to follow the path (a public right of way wholly within a built up area and with a hard surface provided along its complete length and with a clearly defined route may be excluded from measurement).
- Free from unlawful obstructions and other interference, (including overhanging vegetation) to the public’s right of passage.
- Surface and lawful barriers (e.g. stiles, gates) in good repair and to a standard necessary to enable the public to use the way without undue inconvenience.
Durham County Council like many other highway authorities throughout England and Wales have adopted BVPI 178 as their standard assessment method and every year, the County Council carries out a random 5% (172.8 km or 107.4 miles) sample of the Rights of Way network. This survey considers a host of issues that affect the ability of the public to use the routes with ease, these include, signage, surface condition, obstructions and the condition of gates and stiles.
The information is gathered by the area Rights of Way Officers during the months of May and November in order to take into account seasonal weather conditions. The data gathered from the survey is used to produce a figure for the Best Value Performance Indicator (BVPI).
BVPI 178 - Percentage Length of Rights of Way Easy to Use by the Public
| BVPI - 178. Year | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
| County Durham Results | 56.2% | 58.6% | 60.6% | 72.2% | 71.3% | 58.3% | 50.4% |
