Renfrewshire's Core Paths Plan

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The Council has adopted its Core Paths Plan. This was one of the duties that the Council had to carry out under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The plan has been developed over a number of years and has been led largely as a result of public consultation. It identifies the paths and routes that the public feel are the most important in the area for providing access by non motorised means.

The plan shows routes that are surfaced paths, dirt tracks, grass paths, pavements and minor roads. Access points have been shown to the National Cycle Network and to rivers and lochs in the area. Over the whole network there are routes for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and people with disabilities. Not every route is suitable for everyone, the plan also includes information about each route which will help you to decide whether a route is suitable for you or not. Please remember that your access rights only apply if you are behaving responsibly. You can get more details about your rights and responsibilities by reading the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.

Some of the Core Paths need some improvement to make them more useable. This work may include cutting back overgrown vegetation, altering or removing gates to make a route easier to use, drainage works, resurfacing or sign posting the route. We cannot make all these improvements at once but will work over the next two to three years to achieve these.

The final round of public consultation on the Renfrewshire Core Paths Plan took place between the 7^th April and 17^th October 2008 and the Plan was adopted by Renfrewshire Council on 25^th February 2009.

The Core Paths Plan is available for viewing at libraries or at the Council Offices. You can obtain a paper copy of the plan, at a cost of £5.00, by contacting the planning department at corepaths.pt@renfrewshire.gov.uk.

Core Paths Plan (pdf 1.35 MB)

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Core Paths Plan Strategic Environment Assessment

The Renfrewshire Core Paths Plan is subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), which is a requirement of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, A SEA provides a systematic process of identifying, predicting, reporting and mitigating the environmental impacts of any proposed plans or programmes.

Further information on this is available from The Scottish Government website.

The SEA consists of 3 main stages - Screening, Scoping and the Environmental Report.

Screening is the stage where a Statutory Authority (Renfrewshire Council) establishes whether the Plan is likely to have a significant environmental impact. The Responsible Authority must formally consult with the Consultation Authorities (Historic Scotland, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage) to seek their views prior to making a determination about undertaking an SEA.

Scoping sets out in more detail the areas of likely significant impact and requires a formal consultation with the Consultation Authorities to identify the scope and level of detail needed in the Environmental Report, including the proposed period of consultation.

The Environmental Report has to describe the effects on the environment of the Plan and its reasonable alternatives identified by the environmental assessment.

Screening

Screening is the first stage of the Draft Core Paths Plan SEA and determines the potential for any significant environmental impact of the Core Paths Plan. The Screening Report has been carried out and responses received from the 3 statutory Consultation Authorities – Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and Historic Scotland.

The Screening Report and the Consultation Authorities responses are all available below.

Downloadable File	File Size
Screening Report	53 KB
Scottish Government Letter	46 KB
SNH Consultation Response	78 KB
HS Consultation Response	46 KB
SEPA Consultation Response	16 KB
Screening Determination	48 KB

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Scoping

The second stage of the Draft Core Paths Plan is the Scoping Report which considers the scope and level of detail of the environmental assessment.

Downloadable File	File Size
Scoping Report	1.58MB
Scottish Government Letter	42 KB
SNH Consultation Response	40 KB
HS Consultation Response	49 KB
SEPA Consultation Response	25 KB

Draft Environmental Report

The final stage of the Draft Core Paths Plan SEA is the Environmental Report.

The Environmental Report has to describe the effects on the environment of the Plan and its reasonable alternatives identified by the environmental assessment.

The Environmental Report and the Consultation Responses form the 3 statutory authorities are all available below

Downloadable File	File Size
Draft Environmental Report	761 KB
Scottish Government Letter	42 KB
SNH Consultation Response	98 KB
HS Consultation Response	54 KB
SEPA Consultation Response	16 KB

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Environmental Report

A post-adoption statement has been prepared for the Core Paths Plan under Section 18(3) of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. This is available on request. The statement covers:

• How environmental considerations have been integrated into the Core Paths Plan
• How the environmental report has been taken into account
• How the opinion expressed during consultations have been taken into account in adopting the Core Paths Plan
• Reasons for choosing the plan in the light of other reasonable alternatives
• Proposed monitoring measures for the Core Paths Plan
  

Environmental Report (pdf 1.34 MB)
Post Adoption Statement (pdf 528KB)

Contact details

• email: corepaths.pt@renfrewshire.gov.uk
• phone: 0141 842 5811/5822
• fax : 0141 842 5040

Office opening hours

• Monday to Thursday 08.45 - 16.45
• Friday 08.45 - 15.55

Location of the planning offices
Renfrewshire House,
Cotton Street,
Paisley
PA1 1LL