Projects

Local Access Forum Training - East of England

Client: Natural Englad

Summary:

We devised and ran a series of training events tailored to meet the needs of LAF members.

The problem:

Local Access Forum members in the region identified a long list of areas they felt they needed training in, including managing meetings, being more effective, working better with their local authority, as well as arange of technical access topics.

Our input:

We devised an interactive training programme designed to meet these needs, and to pick-up and address any new subjects arising throughout the year.

the first event (for chairs, vice chairs, and secretaries) looked at ways to improve the efficiency of LAF meetings, including handling input from the public, how to manage conflicting opinions, among others.
the second event 'Making the LAF more effective' covered issues including working with the host authority, sharing good practice with other LAFS, responding to official consulations and a wide range of other topics.
the final event, to which all LAF members in the region were invited, covered more technical topics including an update from DEFRA on the new regulations, Discovering Lost Ways and Natural England's recreation strategy as well as presenting real life examples of good practice from LAFS and a chance to discuss common issues in workshop sessions.

The result:

The sessions were well attended, with someone from every LAF attending at least one session. LAF members were motivated to go back and really make a difference. Those in effective LAFs felt challenged to take on more ambitious tasks. Members of less active LAFs were armed with pratical advice and examples they could use to re-invigorate the forum.

When asked to identify any future training needs no-one could think of anything !