agm 2008

MINUTES OF THE THIRTY FIFTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
OF THE MALVERN HILLS DISTRICT FOOTPATH SOCIETY

1. OPENING REMARKS.

The guests were Rob Hemblade of Herefordshire Council, David Goode of Worcestershire County Council and Douglas Castle of Worcestershire Area Ramblers Association.
Frank reminded the meeting that the Society was not only a very successful walking club but, in accordance with its Constitution, it also played an active and valuable role in monitoring and protecting the footpaths in the Malvern Hills District. This latter activity involved a great deal of work and expertise and tended to be done by a relatively small cadre of members.

2. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies were received from Vera Bull, Jim Bullett, Jennifer Bunyan, Anne Colwell, Eileen & Des Crook, Ingrid & Ivor Dalgleish, Christopher Davis, Margaret English, Sheila Hallows, Sally & John Hart, Peggy & Roy Haycock, Jackie Hollis, Don Hood, Pauline & George Houghton, Maggie& CliveJohnson, Berenice Leslie, Sally Linsey, Dot Morrison, Liz Noon, Janet & Roger Rix, Hilary & Alan Starkey and Arthur Lee from the Herefordshire Area Ramblers Association.

3. MINUTES OF THE PREVIOUS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The minutes of the 2007 AGM had been on the Society’s website for many months, a summary had appeared in the May 2007 newsletter and a few copies were available at this meeting. There were no proposed amendments, it was agreed unanimously that they were a true record and they were signed by the Chairman.

4. MATTERS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES.

Eric Hollands had requested the facility to see the minutes of the last meeting prior to the evening of this AGM. As a result the last AGM minutes had been published on the Society’s website and relatively few paper copies were being provided on the night.
Anne Colwell had raised (again) the need for two independent Elected Members on the General Committee – recently one post had been combined with the member of the Survey & Mapping Section. There was no Constitutional problem with the current arrangement but, subject to voting later in the meeting, two independent members would be elected in 2008.

5. REPORTS.

Before asking the Society officers’ to make their reports Frank remarked on all the hard work and support given to him as Chairman and to the Society by the Members, the Officers, the Committees and the Secretary. This support had been and would continue to be fundamental to the successful nature and management of the Society. Reports were then received from the officers of the Society and are summarised here. The reports of the Secretary and Treasurer were proposed and seconded by those named after each summary. The reports from other officers of the Society and from the Society’s Sections were proposed and seconded as a group. Complete reports were adopted unanimously and are appended to the file copy of these minutes.
The Secretary, Mike Everitt, reported that the General Committee had met six times during the year and attendance had been excellent. He commented on the wide range of administrative and development issues that had been discussed in these meetings. In particular he mentioned reviews of the guidance offered to walks leaders, to walkers and to holiday organisers and a review of the terms of reference and workload of the Survey & Mapping Section. Mike noted that John Allsopp was co-ordinating the publication of the third edition of the Society’s Cradle to Grave walks booklet and that arrangements had been made with WCC for Society volunteers to undertake simple vegetation clearance and possibly way-marking tasks. He also outlined some of the liaison that had taken place with many different organisations including Defra, Local Authorities and the Ramblers Association. Mike said that the lobbying of WCC for additional funds and resources had been temporarily suspended following the July 2007 floods but it was disappointing that WCC had discontinued the user group meetings with the Society and with the Area Ramblers Association.

No questions were raised on Mike’s report and its acceptance was proposed by Bill Pearce, seconded by Robin Whittlestone and passed unanimously by the members present.

The Treasurer, Ted Baldock, began his report by noting that there was a surplus on the year’s activities of £457 and thus last year’s warning that membership subscription may have to be increased was suspended for at least another year. The surplus was mainly due to cutting costs in some areas and a significant increase in interest paid on the funds in the Society’s deposit account. Paper copies of the detailed accounts had been distributed at the start of the AGM and he was prepared to answer questions. Ted finished by specifically thanking Wendy Barr as Membership Secretary, Rita Hollands as treasurer of the Social Section and Alan Starkey who audits the accounts, for all their help during the past year.

No questions were raised on Ted’s report and its acceptance was proposed by Terry Arnold, seconded by Pam Evans and passed unanimously by the members present.

The Membership Secretary, Wendy Barr, recalled the deaths of Margaret James and Evelyn Cadman during the past year and outlined the reasons why a couple of other members were not renewing their subscriptions. She reported that the current membership figure for (2008/09) was 189 but there were also 79 members from 2007/08 who had yet to pay this year’s subscription. The final membership figure for 2007/08 had been 266. She explained that it was important for existing members to complete the current application form so that the Society records were accurate and legal. Wendy finished by noting the extra good value of the subscription in a ‘leap’ year!
The Walks Secretary, Shirley Willcox, reported that there had been 55 mid week walks which had attracted between 10 & 24 walkers on a Wednesday and 7 & 9 walkers on a Tuesday. There had been 52 Saturday walks which had attracted between 7 & 43 walkers. On some Spring and Summer Saturdays a second, shorter walk had been offered as an alternative to the longer walk. The long distance walk of the Herefordshire Trail had started in 2007 and would be completed in 2008. The plan for the next long distance walk was to walk the original Malvern Hills District boundary, starting in 2009. There was a display at the AGM to explain the plan. Shirley also noted that the successful walk and carol service held in December 2007 would be included in the walks programme again (on 13th December 2008) and that she was seeking 2 or 3 volunteer leaders to lead Hopper Bus walks on a Sunday afternoon in July, August and September 2008. She thanked the walk leaders for their support and noted that more leaders were always needed.

There was a discussion on whether or not the mid week walk should be on the same day each week. Mike read comments from Roger Rix suggesting that all midweek walks should be planned for a Wednesday. Terry Arnold noted that Jan’s Jaunts and the Ledbury Walkers, who had fixed midweek days, got large numbers whilst Sybil Heeks was concerned about finding volunteer leaders and even walkers if the flexibility of choosing the day was lost. She also noted that some members preferred to go out with smaller walking groups. In the subsequent vote there was an overwhelming majority in favour of leaders being able to select which midweek day they would offer a walk.
There was a discussion on whether a second, shorter walk should be offered more often on a Saturday. While the idea was generally supported, the problem of finding sufficient volunteer leaders was raised by several members. Eric Hollands was concerned that if the Society did not offer shorter Saturday walks then it would lose members but Mike Everitt noted that there were many groups in the area offering short walks and if our Society did not offer long walks we potentially would lose our stronger walkers. David Longley raised the issue of potential new leaders and some sort of ‘buddy’ or apprentice leaders campaign. Sue Nuttall said that a second, shorter walk should be offered if the main Saturday walk was more than 10 miles. The discussion concluded with a general agreement that, if leaders could be found, it was desirable to plan for both a long and a shorter walk on more Saturdays.

In the absence of the Leisure Walks Secretary, Margaret English, Mike read her report. Margaret had written that the weather had affected numbers on some walks but, in general, the 12 leisure walks offered during 2007/08 year had gone to plan with between 7 and 43 walkers participating. Highlights had included Frank Chester’s birthday walk and the Avon boat and walk trip. Walkers had included 2 children on a couple of walks and she felt that more thought should be given to offering child suitable walks during holiday periods. Margaret noted that 2008/09 would be her last year as Leisure Walks Secretary and she asked for a volunteer to replace her.
The Publicity Officer, Beverley Shrubb advised that the Malvern Gazette continued to be the main publicity outlet, both in the weekly newspaper and in its new ‘Daily Events Guide’ page on its website. Several items had ‘made the paper’ during the past year, including items on holidays and on Herefordshire Trail stages. The Society’s new website at www.mhdfs.org.uk, compiled and maintained by Jim Bullett, was a vast improvement on the old website as it had much more capacity and flexibility.
The Mapping Section’s report was presented by John Allsopp. He noted that the Section was active and busy. All the published walks had adopters, the Hopper Bus walks were up-to-date thanks to work by Ken Wells and the Section (particularly Ted Baldock) had been very busy checking on the latest status of many old obstructions listed on the Rights of Way Section database. Indeed obstructions had been checked in 6 parishes and in some cases the parishes were so big or the old obstructions so many that the check had had to be done in several phases. The next new workload that had just started was to survey and write up the walk descriptions for the 30 stages of the long distance Malvern Hills District boundary walk which would start in 2009.
There were two reports from the Rights of Way Section.

Jim Noon read Roy Haycock’s report in his absence. Roy had written that progress in both Herefordshire and Worcestershire continued to be very slow and had not been helped by footpath damage caused by the severe floods in June and July 2007. Most planning applications he had dealt with were requests for footpath diversions to allow new building (or regularisation of already completed buildings). Roy also highlighted the link between County Council budgets and priorities and the number of footpath problems recorded and complaints the counties received and thus the importance of members formally reporting all obstructions and problems they encounter.

Robin Whittlestone said that the Society had reported walking about 1800 miles during 2007 and this was equivalent to about 40% of the rights of way in Worcestershire and north east Herefordshire. Overall we reported an obstruction for about every 2.1 miles that we walked which was a slight improvement on the 2006 figures. The Herefordshire figure of 3.75 miles between obstructions was the best of the three county figures. Robin made a plea for continued and improved reporting, both of the obstructions found and of distances walked during surveys or not on Society organised walks. Robin advised that the Society obstruction database contained some 8500 reports of which about 2000 had been checked by the Survey & Mapping section in the last couple of years. This check of 2000 (old) obstructions had revealed that some 16% had still not been cleared although there was an improving trend in clear-up rates. Turning to ‘Lost Ways’, Robin noted the demise of the Defra Discovering Lost Ways Unit and the expected implications, particularly in claiming cul-de-sac paths and white tracks to provide continuity to the Public Rights of Way Network. Robin emphasised the high level of work and the uncertainty of success involved in claiming lost ways and the need for volunteer researchers.

The Social Section Secretary, Meryl Cochrane, reviewed the social activities that had taken place during the year including an evening of country dancing , a slide show by Ray Sturdy, and a wet outing to Ironbridge during the week of walks. The annual dinner had been a success but a new venue was being sought for the Christmas lunch. Successful holidays had been held at Grange over Sands, Llanfyllin and to Spain. On a less happy note she re-called the deaths of Evelyn Cadman and Margaret James and the lack of mobility of Vera Bull. Lyn Everitt advised that, after the January 2008 slide show, Ray Sturdy had telephoned to thank the Society for the Mencap charitable collection made that night.

With all the reports given and the few questions answered, as recorded above, Gerry Russell proposed and Sybil Heeks seconded that the Officers’ and Section Reports should be adopted. This was endorsed unanimously.

6. ELECTION OF OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE.

The current Chairman, Frank Cochrane, advised that the Society’s Constitution required that the Society’s Officers seek election annually although there were restrictions on how often an officer can be re-elected to the same position on the Committee. Frank advised that only he of the current officers was not eligible to seek re-election (as Chairman) and all remaining officers were prepared, if re-elected, to serve another year.

Only one nomination was forthcoming for each of the posts on the General Committee and the elections were made as follows:

Chairman:Sue Hood
Prop: Gerry Russell. Sec: Agnes Holmes.
Passed unanimously.

Vice-chairman: Roger Wicker.
Prop: Rita Hollands. Sec: Eric Hollands. Passed unanimously.

Secretary:Mike Everitt.
Prop: Sally Linsey. Sec: Robin Whittlestone
Passed unanimously.

Treasurer: Ted Baldock.
Prop: Jenny Hill. Sec: Angela Partridge.
Passed unanimously.

Membership Secretary: Wendy Barr.
Prop: Zena Lloyd. Sec: Frank Cochrane.
Passed unanimously.

Walks Secretary:Shirley Willcox.
Prop: Sue Nuttall. Sec: David Longley.
Passed unanimously.

Leisure Walks Secretary: Margaret English.
Prop: Terry Arnold. Sec: Sue Hood.
Passed unanimously.

Newsletter Editor: Eugene Colwell.
Prop: Rosemary Knight Sec: Eric Hollands.
Passed unanimously.

Publicity Officer: Beverley Shrubb.
Prop: Jim Bullett. Sec: David Lloyd. Passed unanimously.

Elected Member: Frank Cochrane.
Prop: Bill Pearce Sec: Jan Pearce.
Passed unanimously.

Elected Member: John Barr.
Prop: Rosemary Knight. Sec: Joan Bailey.
Passed unanimously

The names of the Section Chairmen and Secretaries were announced. These were:

R.O.W. Chairman – Jim Noon.
Secretary – Agnes Holmes
Mapping Chairman – John Allsopp.
Secretary – Mary Wicker
Social Chairman – Sybil Heeks
Secretary – Meryl Cochrane

Alan Starkey had agreed to continue to be the Hon. Auditor for the coming year.

7. HEREFORDSHIRE COUNCIL AND WORCESTERSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL.

Rob Hemblade from Herefordshire Council’s Public Rights of Way department thanked the Society for the invitation to address the meeting. Rob noted he had been sent a list of possible topics and he would try to cover them. However he started by commenting on the latest Discovering Lost Ways project national status and saying that a recent letter from Defra advised that the relevant section of the CROW Act 2000 had not been enacted and would not be enacted. Thus the 2026 cut off date for lost way applications was no longer an urgent problem. Concerning Herefordshire issues, Rob advised that the flood damage in 2007 had been estimated to cost £85k which had been recovered from central government sources and all known flood damage had now been rectified. Herefordshire had about 3500km of rights of way and typically received between 3000 and 5000 complaints annually. Many of these complaints were minor and some 75% of complaints were resolved annually. However major problems tended to remain longer and take longer to fix. He had a staff of 14, including some part-timers, a revenue (maintenance) budget of £212k which had not changed in 3 years and generally had access to about an additional £50k annually for capital, ie major projects, eg a bridge over the river Monnow at a cost of £12.5k. Contractors (Amey) were used for much of the maintenance work while some of the staff were used for mapping work etc. and he hoped to have the definitive map on the County’s website within a couple of years. BVPI 178 was no longer required for assessing footpath condition and the County was still considering what should be used in its place. However the current fashion was to be more concerned with ‘outcomes’ than problems so it was likely that the usage rates and quality of the paths would assume greater importance than just rectifying problems in any future assessment system. Specific improvements would be concentrated around the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) which was expected to be approved during the next 10 days. The ROWIP was the result of wide consultation including the Local Access Forum and the parishes. The County also had a project to collate and co-ordinate all walking literature about the County on a single Local Authority website as this would aid tourism as well as residents. On specific obstructions Rob noted that Coddington 3 was awaiting a final certification which should occur very soon. The Ferney Cottage path dedication in Mathon was being progressed with, but was not essentially tied to, a diversion application further along the same path and was well in hand. He had no news on the DMMO for Wacton 9 but noted that there seemed to be continuing correspondence with the Society on the three DMMOs for Donnington. Rob finished his talk by outlining the strong line the county was taking on repeat crop obstructions and by explaining some of the difficulties that commercial fruit orchards and rape crops presented to both walkers and for enforcement. There were no questions and Frank thanked Rob for his contribution.
David Goode of Worcestershire County Council’s Public Rights of Way department also thanked the Society for the invitation to address the meeting. He said that the Society and its input on footpath issues were valued by the County and he congratulated the Society on both its excellent website and on accruing a financial surplus in the past year. Concerning flooding in 2007, the County had estimated the damage to be £560k over 190 locations with some paths and bridges completely washed away. 20 of the original 28 path closures had been lifted and 70 of the problems had been cleared or were in hand. The County had a work programme through the next 2 years to rectify the remaining flood problems. Worcestershire had about 4500km of rights of way and had received between 4200 and 4300 complaints annually over the last 3 years. David briefly outlined the priority system for assessing and dealing with complaints noting that the County had a backlog of major or expensive old obstructions and these could only be tackled a few at a time. He noted that over-emphasising the seriousness of a complaint did not bypass the priority system but did waste officer’s time through additional inspections. Depending upon their type, complaints were dealt with by volunteers, parish path wardens, the 5 year rolling parish improvement programme or the reactive maintenance officers. The PROW department had an annual revenue budget of £240k and in each of the last 3 years had had an extra £200k for capital projects. Diversion applications were largely cost neutral because the applicants had to pay for much of the work. Specific future plans included increasing the use of volunteers and prioritising the ROWIP action plan. David made the point that many of the ROWIP actions were aimed primarily at introducing new users to the rights of way network and helping inexperienced users rather than solely improving the network for dedicated users. Concerning the assessment of network condition, he outlined the improvement in BVPI 178 figures over recent years and said that the County intended to continue to use the methodology although it was no longer an audit item. David finished by noting that the parish improvement programme scheme did not have funding to clear all problems in a parish during a visit and therefore concentrated on those expected to provide greatest benefit.

John Allsopp asked David about the footpath along the earth dam near Shrawley House that had been lost in the floods. David advised that replacing the dam was the landowner’s responsibility. Sue Hood asked about the footbridge lost near the Knapp Paper Mill. David did not know the detail about this specific problem but Mike noted that it was on the County’s flood recovery work programme covering the next 2 years. Ted Baldock noted that this bridge was on the GeoPark Trail. Terry Arnold asked about the relative merits and costs of kissing gates, gates and stiles. David advised that, while more expensive to purchase, the new metal kissing gates were cheaper to install (less holes to be dug), more stable, more access friendly and longer lasting than the new standard of stile that had two cross steps. Mike asked how the County obtained views of user groups and David advised that besides the Local Access Forum and the Rights of Way and Access Land Liaison Group, there had been public consultation during the writing of the ROWIP. There being no further questions Frank thanked David for his contribution.

8. CHARITY REPORT

Lyn Everitt reported that the voluntary collection of small change during each walk over the past year had raised £353. This was slightly lower than the previous years total of £385. NB. £5 was donated by a member at the end of the AGM thus increasing this year’s total £358. It had been suggested that this year the charity donations should be made to either the County Air Ambulance or the Friends of Malvern Hospital. A vote was taken and 38 voted for the money to go to the County Air Ambulance and 7 to the Friends of Malvern Hospital.

Frank asked the AGM whether the charity collections should continue into 2008/09. Lyn said she was prepared to continue to co-ordinate collections. A vote was held with a majority supporting the continuation of charity collections.

9. A.O.B.

No issues were raised during AOB but Mike Everitt outlined the provisional plans and organisation for the boundary walk starting in 2009. .

10. NEW CHAIRMAN’S REMARKS

Sue Hood thanked the Society for electing her as Chairman and noted that although women played a very important part in the many activities of the Society she was the first woman to be elected as Chairman in her 24 years as a member. She thanked Frank for all his hard work for the Society over many years and particularly in his guiding role as Chairman over the past five years. He would be missed and not only for his jokes. Sue noted the amount of work carried out for the Society by Mike as Secretary and said she looked forward to working with the General Committee, Sections and members to maintain the happy and active nature of the Society she now had the privilege to chair.

The AGM ended at 2115hrs and was followed by tea and biscuits organised by the Social Section while members looked at the several display tables the Sections had arranged.

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