The Rights of Way Improvement Plan for RCT - Rhondda Cynon Taf

8. ImplementationThe Improvement Plan providesactions that are aimed at increasingpublic benefits through accessimprovements. Many of theseactions however are clearly beyondthe existing Countryside Sectionsmall budget management forprimarily recreation purposes. Muchtime and funding will be required todeliver many of the actions. Thereare however, some actions that canbe delivered within a shortertimescale, and within currentresources. These actions will be theones that can be delivered by theCountryside Section soonest, as theirimplementation does not rely on thesuccessful outcome of any bid foradditional funding.Other providers of Countrysideaccess have been encouraged tocontribute to the Improvement Planand be guided by this plan. Therealisation of related and partnershipwork by other Council departmentsand organisations such asGroundwork Merthyr, RhonddaCynon Taf and Sustrans will alsofulfil substantial access networkbenefit. Once again theseorganisations are not bound by theactions in this plan. Reliance onadditional funding is still a crucialfactor.The proposed Valleys Regional Parkmay provide opportunities forenhanced regional working acrossthe South Wales coalfield includingmatters covered by Out & About.The implementation of certainactions will be more visible andrecognisable to public users ofaccess facilities in Rhondda CynonTaf. For example, more signposting,provision of new kissing gates, bettermaintenance, provision of access forall and supply of information willprovide more immediate benefit andpublic feedback than Definitive Mapwork and collection of furtherinformation on use and demand.Definitive Map work is however stillcrucial to the longer term realisationof public rights of way overallnetwork improvements as explainedpreviously. Work on the DefinitiveMap is costly in terms of officer timeand requires complex legalprocedures to carry out a review.These actions will take the longest tocomplete as the existing maps willhave to be reviewed over a numberof years. The cut off date of 2026introduced by the CROW Act 2000for new path claims may appear adistant date at present but progressso far has been slow due to otherdemands on the ground. Theappointment of a new DefinitiveMap officer in 2007 is likely to beone of the first major actionsidentified in the Improvement Planmaking process to be implementedin advance of the Full Plan.40Out & About: The Rights of Way Improvement Plan for Rhondda Cynon Taf