Agenda item

The Superintendent of the City Commons to be heard.

The Superintendent of City Commons provided the following update to the Committee:

St Judes Storm

Very clear storm warnings were issued by the Met Office and the Commons Rangers responded very efficiently on the morning of the 28th October 2013 assessing the damage and clearing blocked paths.  There was not much damage across the Coulsdon Commons and West Wickham Commons.  At Ashtead Common some pollards were lost and some veteran trees within the low risk zones sustained damage to large limbs and bows.

Rural Payments Agency

On the 13^th November 2013 the Rural Payments Agency commenced a five day inspection of the City Commons ELS/HLS agreement.  Initial feedback is expected on the 20^th November 2013.

Byelaw Enforcement – Farthing Downs

Working with the Comptroller & City Solicitor a successful prosecution had been brought against a driver who drove his vehicle across Farthing Downs.

Lime Wood Project – Spring Park

The Small-leaved Lime Conservation Project at Spring Park has received £7,513.00 funding from the SITA Trust.

The Project aimed to conserve an area of ancient woodland at Spring Park which contains a regionally important and distinctive population of rare Small-leaved Lime trees.  This species, once favoured as a source of material for rope-making, is now vulnerable due to its poor reproduction.  The Project would promote its survival and regeneration through implementing a Species Management Plan drawn up by the Limewood Working Group, which was part of the Tree Council.

This plan would guide the Project and ensure that appropriate management is used.  Site rangers, working with volunteers and contractors will re-coppice lapsed Small-leaved Lime stools, layer stems to encourage regeneration, coppice and pollard other trees nearby, ‘halo release’ the veteran Limes and remove timber using heavy horses.

Bridleway 38 – Ashtead Common

The Ashtead team had brought forward a surfacing project on Bridleway 38 between Craddocks Avenue and Lady Howards Crossing.  The Head Ranger had secured £3,800 compensation from a Contractor working for Network Rail for damage to the bridleway surface resulting from works to the electricity sub station adjacent to the railway.  The work was due to commence shortly and local horse riders had been informed.

Holmefield Road – Coulsdon Common

The Head Ranger reported to the summer Consultative Committee proposals to install posts to protect the Common along Holmefield Raod.  The Rangers were taking advantage of a temporary road closure to complete the work in late November.

Cattle

As part of our commitment to biosecurity 25 of our Sussex cattle were having 5 different blood tests on Thursday 21st November to ensure they were fit to enter the Epping Forest herd.  Once the tests results were back the breeding herd will move to Great Gregories in late December.  In addition, 5 cattle were going to be overwintered at Chessington Farm and 20 younger stock will be over wintered on the Coulsdon Commons.

Sheep

The decision was taken not to breed from our flock of Jacob’s we have sufficient numbers for the planned grazing in 2014.

Volunteer numbers

Volunteers contributed 5611 hours between April and October 2013, now only 20 hours behind last year’s position.  This was boosted by 57 young people from the Big Challenge helping manage the firebreaks on Ashtead Common, a further task had been planned for Saturday 16^th November.

Kenley Air show

The organisers of the Kenley Charity Air Show have agreed the terms the City was prepared to offer:-

• 14 acres of Kenley Common would be closed for 3 hours during the air show to provide a sterile area.
• The organisers are responsible for marking off the area.
• The Licensee was to pay reasonable costs incurred by the City of London for the supervision of the event.
• A peppercorn fee had been proposed as this is a charity event raising funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund.
• The organisers were responsible for risk assessments and the safety of the public attending the event.

Restructure

Informal consultation had been completed with very constructive feedback has been received from staff.  The Superintendent will be presenting the revised structure to the Director and Corporate HR towards the end of November.

Kenley Revival Project – Kenley Common

The Superintendent was notified by the Heritage Lottery Fund that the Kenley Revival Project had achieved a round 1 pass on the 12^th Sept.  The Town Clerk informed the Committee by email.

The Project was then approved by the Projects Sub Committee on the 26^th September 2013 allowing the Superintendent to progress the development phase of the project and submit a round 2 application in December 2014.

Pre-start documentation had been approved by the Heritage Lottery Fund and £28,000 was being released to the City of London, this would be used to employ a part time, fixed term contract Project Development Officer.

Work Programmes

The Head Rangers were starting to prepare their work programmes for 2014/15 ready to present to the three Consultative Committees in January & February 2014.  These would then be presented to the Epping Forest & Commons Committee in March 2014.