Agenda item

The Chairman to respond to any questions received from members of the public for which notice has been given in accordance with Procedure Rule 10.

The deadline for receipt of questions is 5pm on Tuesday 27 June 2023.

19.1   The Executive received the following question in accordance with Procedure Rule 10:

(i)              From Libby Ralph, Farnham:

“Please can Waverley Borough Council give a clear-cut statement on their position regarding supposedly permissive cycling in Farnham Park, provide documentation as to where and when this position was reached, and provide a formal statement of the position regarding the historic Byelaws? Byelaws 5(ii) of the Byelaws for Pleasure Grounds (which includes Farnham Park) came into force on the 1 June 1965. These state:  “ A person shall not, except in the exercise of any lawful right or privilege, ride any bicycle, tricycle or other similar machine in any part of the pleasure ground”. This, and the rest of the Byelaws were still in place and quoted in the Management Plan for Farnham Park in 1995. However, by 2010, the updated Management Plan states: “Cycling is permitted formally on Footpath 98, and informally elsewhere in the Park as long as there is no conflict with other users or site integrity”. We can find no documentary evidence of this policy change. Various other wording on permissive cycling has been used since. The stated primary purpose of the Park is for recreation (as well as being a sensitive Local Nature Reserve), and it is used primarily by families with small children, pushchairs, dogs, toys etc., and hence there are conflicts between cyclists and these users particularly on the steep paths. The supposed permission on permissive cycling is being used by some to promote the idea of these paths as dual-use, increasing potential conflicts, but over the past 10 years, the Friends of Farnham Park have been unable to get clarity from the Council on this issue.

There are some small sections of flatter routes in the Park where we would be happy to discuss permissive cycling as already allowed on Footpath 98, but this must be on the basis of demonstrated need, for example to provide a direct route to schools, rather than for leisure cyclists.

Yours faithfully,

Libby Ralph

Chair, Friends of Farnham Park”

Response from Cllr Steve Williams, Executive Portfolio Holder for Environment and Sustainability:

“Thank you very much for your question and interest in and support for Farnham Park.

Farnham Park is a special place for history and wildlife. Its importance is recognised nationally and it is listed as a site of nature conservation importance, historic landscape value, a grade two listed historic park and garden (English Heritage designation) and local nature reserve. The Parks and Countryside team works hard to manage and maintain the site for wildlife, recreation and leisure and which has received a green flag status for the fourth year running.

There are a number of byelaws relating to ‘pleasure grounds’ (or green spaces) across the Waverley area, which encompass not only cycling but relate to other users and to protect the area so that it a place for all to enjoy. For the benefit of others not aware, they are effectively local legislation to deal with local issues.

Cyclists have no legal right to use public footpaths, however they are able to cycle on them where the landowner agrees. Any legal proceedings by the landowner where appropriate would be by way of a civil action for trespass.  However, given that the Council has permitted the public over the years to ride on certain footpaths in the Park no civil action for trespass can be taken.

·       A byelaw made by Surrey CC in 1933 banning cycling on FP 98 and FP151 through Farnham Park was repealed by the Local Government Act 1972 and so this byelaw is no longer in force.

·       Byelaw 5(ii) of the Byelaws for Pleasure Grounds (which includes Farnham Park) came into force on the 1 June 1965. This confirms amongst other matters that “ A person shall not, except in the exercise of any lawful right or privilege, ride any bicycle, tricycle or other similar machine in any part of the pleasure ground “.  It is the Council’s position that as we have allowed cyclists to ride in the Park on a permissive basis over the years and even reinforced that by creating shared paths then, a “lawful right or privilege” has been created for the public to use these paths for cycling.  Therefore, it would be inappropriate to bring any action for breach of this byelaw.

The Council is supportive of responsible cycling in Farnham Park in providing a healthy, safe and traffic free route to and from Farnham town centre, and our position is that cycling in the Park is and will continue to be permitted.

So in summary, we have over the years permitted certain public footpaths on our land to be used for cycling and it would not now be possible to bring a civil action for trespass in our land owning capacity nor a criminal action for breach of the byelaws.  This is a position that has been reached organically over many years, with no specific decision made for this on any particular date by the Council. As an organisation, we feel that this current position fully respects the many different users of the park and their need to use and travel through the park.   We do, however,  expect all users to be respectful to other users whilst going about their recreation, travelling to and from work, school or shopping in the local area. Whilst there are some users that sadly do not respect this concept, the incidences of these are very few and far between overall despite the sub-standard widths of paths in the park and should not be used to single out one particular group as being at fault.

The Thames Basin Heaths Partnership who the council have worked with on the provision of the Farnham Park SANG, support responsible cycling and whilst their main focus is on dogs, they do advocate safe, accessible space for all park users. The original byelaws for the park did not only focus on cycling they also considered pedestrians damaging vegetation i.e. making new desire lines through the woods, meadows etc. amongst other matters regarding the use of the park, the council has not enforced those bylaws either.

We are currently planning and considering an upgrade and widening to the path, ‘The Hale Trail’ to assist all users of the park.  As part of these plans there will be consultation and we would welcome further input into these plans as they develop and come forward from all parks users and stakeholder groups.   SCC have already started work during June on upgrading footpath No. 151 in the park to improve the footpath network and we will follow and monitor behaviours of users of the upgraded path with interest as result of these works and we will of course continue to monitor activities in the whole of the park of all users not just cyclists to ensure that fair balance of behaviour is maintained and respect is kept between all parties.

I hope that that this provides welcome clarity on the position and please do feel free to address any questions to the parks and countryside team who will be pleased to assist.”

The Leader invited Mrs Ralph to follow-up, and Mrs Ralph asked how use of the paths and the behaviour of users would be monitored. She was concerned that the steeper paths were not appropriate for dual-use, regardless of how wide they were. Cllr Williams agreed that these were fair points, and welcomed the opportunity to meet with Mrs Ralph on site to continue the conversation.