P-05-759 Re-open the Cwmcarn Forest Drive at Easter 2018, Correspondence – Petitioner to Chair, 24.03.19

Further to my correspondence to the NAfW Petitions Committee dated 19th February 2019 I would like to confirm that I met with Derek Stephen of NRW at the Cwmcarn Forest Visitor Centre on Thursday 28th February and he confirmed the detail's later outlined in Claire Pillman's letter and  fully explained the reasons for NRW's delayed appointment of a project manager to oversee the reinstatement of the Cwmcarn Forest/Scenic Drive.  I was informed that NRW were undergoing a period of organisational redesign in the last months of 2019 and that during this period things were delayed but  that the appointment of a project manager is now proceeding apace and the re-opened of the Drive is still scheduled for Easter 2020. As I have found Derek Stephen to be of the utmost professional integrity I am happy to accept this, along with the details of Claire Pillman's letter,  and will recommend this to the Friends of Cwmcarn Forest Drive committee at our AGM this coming Wednesday.  I hope to meet with Derek and the newly appointed project manager in the coming weeks.

Lastly I understand that there have been a number of difficulties within NRW recently and coupled with the effects of last summer's wild fires I would like to withdraw  some of the more critical comments outlined in my previous email.

Please pass on my  very best wishes to David Rowlands AM and the Committee members.

Kind regards

Robert J Southall

Chair Friends of Cwmcarn Forest Drive