By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
There is frustration over a lack of progress in clearing a “horrendous” backlog of footpath applications in Gloucestershire – with some waiting 20 years for a case to be dealt with.
Gloucestershire County Council unanimously agreed last September to ask senior officers to report on the backlog of cases and ways of clearing the applications for modificatios to the definitive map.
This map is the legal record of public rights of way in England and Wales.
Councillors also asked leaders at the time to consider increasing the funding to resolve more cases.
However, public rights of way campaigner Chas Townley is frustrated over the apparent lack of progress.
He has been waiting 20 years for an application to be processed.
“What is going on? Feels like this isn’t ‘Action this Day’ as Churchill would often write in his responses to civil servants. More like his ‘V’ sign reversed.
“Who runs this charabanc of a County Council? At the moment it looks like officers are running it at a snail’s pace.
“I understand that some might think that rights of way are less of a priority than children’s or adult services.
“But this feels like a cultural issue of the machinery of mismanagement not being bothered to follow up on decisions that councillors have collectively made.
“This is the real frustration that makes it awful to be a councillor. They put the time in, they build the consensus and get everyone on board and nothing happens. Something has got to change.
“I have now been waiting nearly 20 years for an application to be processed, it’s in a queue with around 40 others waiting to be referred to the Secretary of State. It is just absolutely outrageous!
“Let’s just hope that Lisa Spivey, the new County Council Leader, has the strength of character to drag this abysmally bad council from the dark ages of failure and frustration to the sunlit uplands of efficiency and effectiveness and providing high quality services with excellent outcomes for all.
“Oh I forgot there’s already a big beautiful excuse – wait until we fix it with local government reorganisation.”
Highways maintenance cabinet member Joe Harris (LD, Cirencester Park) said the council is actively working to address the issue and are securing extra funding to bolster the team dealing with the applications.
“We fully understand the concerns being raised about delays in processing definitive map modification order (DMMO) applications, and we recognise the frustration this causes for applicants and members of the public,” he said.
“This is a complex and specialist area of work, and we currently have a significant backlog of applications, some of which have been waiting many years for resolution.
“Our officers are in regular contact with individuals like Chas Townley, who has consistently engaged on this issue, and we appreciate his continued involvement. I hope to meet with him soon to discuss this and other issues relating to public rights of way.
“We’re actively working to address the delays, including securing additional funding to strengthen the resources of our DMMO team, and are committed to improving the speed and transparency of the process.
“An update on progress following the motion passed by council is being prepared, and we will provide further details later this year.
“We know improvements are needed and we’re determined to make meaningful progress.”
Gloucester News Centre – http://gloucesternewscentre.co.uk
Original post on the Gloucestershire News Centre website
Gloucestershire News Centre