Actions from the previous meeting were noted as complete with updates provided on:

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1 Meeting Summary Title of Meeting: Date of Meeting: Present: Observers: Apologies: National Access Forum (NAFW 58) 11 July :45 Venue: Powys Hospitality Centre, Welshpool Livestock Sales, SY21 8SR Ruth Hall (Chair), Carys Drew (NRW Secretariat), Howard Davies (NRW), Neil Buffery (BDS), Mark Weston (BHS), Elfyn Jones (BMC &WEL), Andrew Stumpf (Glandŵr Cymru), Steve Rayner (Canoe Wales), Stuart France (CCC), Ruth Rourke (IPROW), Jean Rosenfeld (CPRW), Rachel Evans (CA), Kieron Foster, Mark Slater (Cycling UK), John Cuthbertson (Disabled Ramblers), Tom Packham (Dŵr Cymru), David Evans (Eland Valley Trust), Bernard Griffiths (FUW), Chris Tomley (LARA), John Morgan (LAFs), Bryn Williams (Mountain Training Cymru), Beverley Penney (OSS), Angela Charlton, Amanda Hill (Ramblers), Gwyn Smith (Sustrans), Mark Stafford Tolley (WLGA), Peter Rutherford (Welsh NPAs), Rowland Pittard (YHA), Catrin Dellar (WG), Rob Sage (PHW), Roz Owen (NRW), Joe Roberts (NRW), Jont Bulbeck (NRW) Sarah Jowett (Dŵr Cymru), Bob Mehew (British Caving Association), local FUW representative, Jason Bragg (RCT CBC) Charles de Winton (CLA), Rachel Lewis-Davies (NFU), Richard Neale (NT), Lyn Cadwallader (One Voice Wales), Kerry Thatcher (Visit Wales), Paul Donovan (WATO) Item Item No: 1. Welcome and Apologies. Action Ruth welcomed everyone to the meeting and particularly to Bryn Williams who had been nominated as the new representative for Mountain Training Cymru and Rob Sage from Public Health Wales, who has come to share information about his work, following the suggestion that PHW may be a current gap in Forum membership. Daniel Lewis was introduced as the new ROWIP Funding Officer who would be assisting Carys with Forum arrangements. Actions from the previous meeting were noted as complete with updates provided on: Action 57.1: Carys Drew to develop a template for written contributions. Page 1 of 7

2 The template had been provided for use, Carys welcomed feedback and any suggestions for improvement. Action 57.2: NAFW members to be invited to form a subgroup to respond to consultation on proposals at appropriate time. The Subgroup meeting would be convened on 18 July 2017 to discuss Welsh Government s Improving Opportunities to Access the Outdoors for Recreation consultation, arrangements circulated by . Action 57.4: Carys Drew to circulate link to Natural Resource Policy when published. This had yet to be published and would be circulated by when available. 2. Welsh Government Consultation on Taking forward Wales sustainable management of natural resources Agreeing how NAFW wish to consider the access related proposals Ruth Hall gave an overview of the consultation document noting that whilst Chapter 4 is the main area of interest, Forum members may wish to discuss other parts of the consultation. This item was to give an opportunity for making general comments, with a further opportunity for detailed discussion through the subgroup meeting. Catrin Dellar said that the next steps would depend on the information and responses that Welsh Government receive through the consultation. Whilst there is no set timetable following the consultation, it was noted that Lesley Griffiths, Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs, is due to make an interim legislative speech in October Catrin advised that the access proposals were considered as White Paper proposals and she encouraged forum members and the public to respond to the consultation. Discussion points The proposals in the consultation will not necessarily go through as a package, what goes forward will depend on the feedback from the consultation. Welsh Government would be looking for a package to bring consistency to access in Wales. A number of members confirmed that their organisations planned to respond to the consultation. It was a matter for each organisation to respond to the consultation, and up to each how they approach their membership e.g. with proforma responses. There were calls for clear definition of terms used in the consultation. It would be helpful to clarify what open air Page 2 of 7

3 recreation referred to, and whether WG consider that includes caving. Ruth Hall reminded members that this consultation provides an opportunity to highlight such issues to Welsh Government and that organisations should take this opportunity. Concern that the consultation was 12 weeks over the summer which would make it harder for organisations and the public to contribute. Brexit and the Repeal Act may have an impact. Action 58.1: Members to attend NAFW subgroup 18 th July 2017 and respond to the consultation. All 3. Increasing physical activity in the population in Wales Presentation by Rob Sage, Principal Public Health Practitioner, Public Health Wales Further to the request from members to invite Public Health Wales (PHW) to join the Forum, Rob Sage provided a presentation about the work he is involved with in Public Health Wales - aimed at increasing levels of physical activity in the Wales population. Rob provided a presentation in which he referred to Getting Wales Moving the joint report of PHW and Sports Wales. He set out the guidelines for physical activity, the extent to which the Welsh population is meeting these and the interventions which help to increase physical activity. The population of Wales needs to become more physically active. Rob talked about the role of recreational access, and active environments in supporting people to be more physically active, which ties in to the proposals in the WG consultation. He noted that the quality of activities is important as well as quantity as it can have other positive benefits such as boosting confidence and morale as well as providing social interaction. He noted that community led schemes such as Park Run are having a positive impact. PHW work focusses on interventions aimed at population level changes; National policy and campaigns to increase physical activity and self-help and brief interventions to encourage increased physical activity. Ruth Hall proposed and Forum members agreed that an invitation be made to PHW to be a regular member of the Forum as it was considered that health related matters were an important issue for recreation and access and that as a Forum member PHW could make a valuable, ongoing contribution to the Forum, its areas of interest and business. Page 3 of 7

4 Discussion points There are recreational access groups in place that could support individuals in helping them to become more physically active, in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Work is taking place to look at how the availability of such groups can be used systematically e.g. keeping information about groups up to date at the primary care level so that GPs can refer people to them. There is a lot of interest in social prescribing and the wellbeing bond, charities are working to support this. In terms of creating active environments, it was suggested that work was needed to enable people in rural areas to travel actively not just limit active travel in and around urban areas. Action 58.2: Carys Drew to invite Public Health Wales to join the National Access Forum. Action 58.3 Carys Drew to share copy of presentation CD CD 4. Natural Resources Wales: Recreation, Access, Education, Community and Regeneration Position Statements An opportunity to hear about their development and planned consultation: Joe Roberts, NRW Joe Roberts is involved in developing pilot Position Statements for NRW, and has issued a consultation with Forum members by , requesting input to help inform their development. The purpose of Position Statements is to: - To formalise a standard management approach across all sites - To support NRW land managers - To reduce the need for formal requests for information - To help direct interested parties to the Mynediad Portal (in development) Joe outlined the process for development through a working group and set out the timetable for work. Topics had been identified and were divided into three phases, phase 1 Position Statements being the subject of the current consultation. Action 58.4: Carys to re-send the information in relation to the Position Statement consultation and members to provide feedback deadline extended to 21 st July CD/All 5. Guidance on Least Restrictive Access to the Outdoors Presentation by Roz Owen, NRW Roz set out the background to the recently updated NRW guidance By All Reasonable Means: Least Restrictive Access to the Outdoors Page 4 of 7

5 The guidance is based on a previous publication and updated to incorporate the wider remit of the Equality Act 2010 and to guide NRW in implementing its public sector duty to meet the objectives of the Act. Roz said that it is important to note that the public sector duty is an anticipatory duty i.e. there is a need to consider where users will want to go in future. The guidance has been developed for NRW following an Equality and Diversity Assessment 2016: focused on 6 key NRW sites. It provides a toolkit for planning equality of access, aimed at all land managers and provides practical support and case studies. Alongside the guidance, training in order to understand the audiences was identified as very important and this would be developed further in order to embed the guidance in day-to-day working practice. Whilst developed for NRW, the guidance is being made available electronically for others to use to support adoption of best practice. It will be subject to a 12 month review period to enable people to give feedback on it as they use it. Information about the guidance is available online and a written briefing will be made available. Discussion points: The updated Guidance was welcomed. It was noted that local user groups are important to keep in the loop in making improvements. The guidance would be useful to take into account in local authority review of their ROWIP. Income could be a barrier restricting population level update of activities. The promotion of certain lifestyles and private sector equipment is exclusive e.g. excludes groups including those on low incomes, but income is not a protected characteristic. It was noted that British Standards are being reviewed and would need to be incorporated in the Guidance [Post meeting note this has been fed back and will lead to amendments in the Guidance] John Cuthbertson is on the working party for review and would circulate the consultation Action 58.5: Carys Drew to circulate guidance and briefing information. Action 58.6: John Cuthbertson to circulate consultation on British Standards. CD JC Page 5 of 7

6 6. Contributions from all See NAFW Contributions 11 July 2017 in addition the following points were made: It was noted that the template provided was helpful. Tom Packham provided a verbal update and noted the ongoing issues associated with managing Dwr Cymru s no swimming rule which had been implemented following two drownings in Discussion points: Whether it should it be considered that participants are opting into the risk of the activity they are undertaking. Risks are not always obvious. To increase physical literacy there is a need to raise risk awareness and understanding of own boundaries. It is important to let children take risks through outdoor play. Rowland Pittard gave a verbal update on YHA. A new Chief Executive had been appointed and they have published their impact report for 2016/17 Jean Rosenfeld noted that there had been changes to CPRW s national executive committee. Kieron Foster noted that Cycling UK were undergoing review of their off road policy. Steve Rayner said that Canoe Wales welcomes discussions with others about the ideas set out in the WG Consultation. Elfyn Jones noted that BMC would be launching another mend out mountains campaign with a major corporate sponsor. Stuart France noted that CCC had been encouraged to meet NRW which they did with the British Caving Association. No shared interpretation had come out of the meeting about the meaning of phrases in the CROW Act and of Law and Property Act and whether caving is included. He reported pragmatic and constructive relationship with Dyfed Archaeological Trust and a likelihood of securing permanent access. Beverley reminded the Forum of the standing invitation to the Minister to attend NAFW meetings and suggested asking Catrin about suitable timing to make the Cabinet Secretary aware of the NAFW. Page 6 of 7

7 Ruth Hall noted that she reports back to NRW Board about the Forum meetings. Action 58.7: Consider Recreation and managing risk as a future agenda topic Action 58.8: Carys Drew to liaise with Catrin Dellar about future invitation to the Cabinet Secretary to attend. 7. Dates of next meetings 7th November 2017, Bute Park Education Centre, Cardiff, CF10 3DX Page 7 of 7