Local Access Forums (England) Regulations 2002
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2002/1836 |
| Year | 2002 |
2002 No. 1836
COUNTRYSIDE, ENGLAND
The Local Access Forums (England) Regulations 2002
Made 15th July 2002
Laid before Parliament 16th July 2002
Coming into force 7th August 2002
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred upon her by sections 94(1) and (3) and 95(1), (2) and (5) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 20001, and of all other powers enabling her in that behalf, having regard to the desirability of maintaining a reasonable balance between the number of members of any local access forum appointed in accordance with paragraph (a) and in accordance with paragraph (b) of section 95(2) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Access Forums (England) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 7th August 2002.
(2) These Regulations extend to England only2.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations references to sections are references to sections of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Establishment of a local access forum
3.—(1) Subject to regulation 13, where an appointing authority3is required, by section 94(1), to establish a local access forum, that authority shall establish the forum by appointing the members of the forum before 8th August 2003.
(2) Before establishing any local access forum an appointing authority which is a local highway authority shall consult—
(a)
(a) any district council in their area, and
(b)
(b) such other persons as they consider appropriate,
as to the area for which the forum is to be established.
(3) Before establishing any local access forum an appointing authority which is a National Park authority shall consult—
(a)
(a) any district or county council for any part of the area of the National Park for which the National Park authority is the appointing authority, and
(b)
(b) such other persons as they consider appropriate,
as to the area for which the forum is to be established.
Membership of a local access forum
4.—(1) A local access forum shall consist of no fewer than 10 and not more than 22 members.
(2) In the case of a local access forum—
(a)
(a) consisting of not more than 16 members, not more than two members of such forum may also be members of a district or county council or National Park authority for any part of the area of the forum,
(b)
(b) consisting of no fewer than 17 members, not more than three members of such forum may also be members of a district or county council or National Park authority for any part of the area of the forum.
(3) The members shall be persons who appear to the appointing authority to be representative of—
(a)
(a) users of local rights of way or the right conferred by section 2(1) (rights of public in relation to access land),
(b)
(b) owners and occupiers of access land or land over which local rights of way subsist, or
(c)
(c) any other interests especially relevant to the authority’s area.
(4) The appointing authority shall ensure a reasonable balance is maintained between the number of members appointed in accordance with sub-paragraph (a) and in accordance with sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph (3).
(5) Subject to paragraph (6), before appointing any member the appointing authority shall—
(a)
(a) advertise the vacancy—
(i) in such local or regional newspapers circulating in the authority’s area as they consider appropriate, and
(ii) if they maintain a website on the internet, on such a website, and
(b)
(b) consult such persons as they consider appropriate.
(6) The requirements in paragraph (5) to advertise and consult shall not apply to the appointment to a local access forum of any person who is a member of a district or county council or National Park authority for any part of the area of the forum.
Terms of membership
5.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation, the terms of appointment of a member of a local access forum shall be determined by the appointing authority and notified to him in writing.
(2) A member of a local access forum shall be appointed for not less than one and not more than three years.
(3) A member of a local access forum may resign by notice in writing to the appointing authority which appointed him.
(4) An appointing authority—
(a)
(a) shall terminate the appointment of a member of a local access forum if they are satisfied that he has become a member of a district or county council or National Park authority and, as a result, regulation 4(2) is not complied with, and
(b)
(b) may terminate the appointment of a member of a forum if—
(i) without the consent of the appointing authority, he has been absent from all meetings of the forum during a period of one year, or
(ii) he has failed to comply with regulation 6(7).
(5) An appointing authority may re-appoint a person who ceases to be a member of a local access forum.
Proceedings of a local access forum
6.—(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation and to regulations 7, 8 and 9, the proceedings (including the quorum) relating to the meetings of a local access forum shall be such as it may determine.
(2) A local access forum shall hold no fewer than two meetings every year.
(3) A local access forum shall have a chairman and a vice-chairman, who shall be appointed by election from amongst the members of the forum.
(4) The first chairman and vice-chairman of a local access forum shall be appointed at the first meeting of the forum.
(5) The period of appointment of the chairman and vice-chairman shall be determined by the local access forum, but in each case it may not exceed the period of appointment as a member of the forum.
(6) With a view to maintaining a reasonable balance between the interests of which the chairman and vice-chairman are respectively representative, a local access forum shall take such steps (as regards the selection of candidates for election as chairman and vice-chairman, determining the order in which they are appointed or the duration of their appointments as such, any combination of these or otherwise) as may be necessary to ensure that so far as practicable the chairman or the vice-chairman or each of them is a person who on his appointment as a member of the forum was eligible to be so appointed—
(a)
(a) on any basis mentioned in regulation 4(3) other than any on which the other was eligible to be so appointed, or
(b)
(b) (where each was appointed in accordance with regulation 4(3)(c)) on the basis of an interest other than any which was the basis on which the other was eligible to be so appointed.
(7) A member of a local access forum who is directly or indirectly interested in any matter brought up for consideration at a meeting of the forum shall disclose the nature of his interest to the meeting.
Access to meetings and documents of a local access forum
7.—(1) A meeting of a local access forum shall be open to the public.
(2) The right of admission of the public conferred by paragraph (1) is without prejudice to any power of exclusion to suppress or prevent disorderly conduct or other misbehaviour at a meeting.
(3) Copies of the agenda for a meeting of a local access forum and copies of any report for the meeting shall be open to inspection by members of the public at the offices of the appointing authority in accordance with paragraph (4).
(4) Any document which is required by paragraph (3) to be open to inspection shall be so open at least three...
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