Public rights of way (PROW)

Local Access Forums (LAFs) were established after the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a requirement for all councils outside of London to set up a LAF.

LAFs have been set up to advise the council on preparing a Public Rights Of Way Improvement Plan.

Sandwell's LAF is administered by the council's Governance Services and officers from the PROW Team are observers and assist in servicing meetings.

Further information, including meeting dates, past and present meeting minutes and reports, can be found on the council's CMIS web pages.

Expressions of interest

Expressions of interest from potential new members of the Forum are now invited. There are currently vacancies for users of PROWs, for owners and occupiers of access land, or land over which rights of way exist, and for representatives of 'other' areas of interest, such as Tourism/Heritage and Education.

The Forum meets about twice a year, at the Sandwell Council House, Oldbury.

For further details, please contact the Public Rights Of Way team on 0121 569 4151.

Access land

Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act introduced a new right of access for the public to enter and remain on any Access Land for the purposes of open-air recreation.

The Conclusive Maps for this region were recently issued and the new right of access is set to commence in October 2005. Sandwell does not have any Access Land. More information on Access Land can be found on Natural England website.