Agenda item

Jack Cornish, Head of Paths with The Ramblers, gave a presentation on the organisation’s research on the public rights of way network.  Jack outlined the need for the research, which would support work to ensure the network is open for everyone, and to set out the value of public rights of way to enable targeting of work.  11% of footpaths in England and Wales are in National Parks. As an area, Derbyshire is doing fairly well on looking after Rights of Way, including the important work of identifying “lost” paths.  It is often overlooked that this network is a critical national infrastructure.  There is a lot of information looking at people being within 10 minutes of a ROW.  Something that has emerged from the research is around the data on house building and access to nature.  From the mid 20^th century, this access has declined where new houses have been built and the decline has been greater in rural areas.

Clare Griffin commented on the level of detail and data provided by the research that The Ramblers report provided.  There is a lack of financial resilience at local authority level and it was good that The Ramblers are looking into this and identifying groups that are affected.  Strava - an App for tracking physical, mainly outdoors, exercise could be used in many ways.  It allows for lots of analysis and Clare queried if the PDNPA could work in partnership with Strava, and also if the data will be used to advise and direct people.  Jack responded that working in partnership is important and for example in the Peak District area, the Strava data can be looked at to see where people are starting and ending their trips, and from that look at which are the most popular places for people that don’t live in the area.  Sue Smith advised that National Parks were working with Strava and looking at opportunities to share data.  This includes using heat maps to identify how people are accessing areas.

Charlotte Gilbert commented that the presentation outlined a fantastic piece of work which could influence a lot of people.  There was detail about lost ways from the horse rider’s perspective and how work could be done with associated groups.  There were issues raised around lack of access to green spaces in new build sites.  Buxton for example had no provision for non-motorised access to the town.  Sustainable travel should be part of the consideration for every planning application.  In the Dolomites footpaths are numbered on maps to make it easier for users to follow routes.  Jack responded with the fact that You Gov polling has shown that people struggle to know where footpaths are and where they go – this information is tricky.  Are Google Maps useful to guide people round the network, considering that these sorts of solutions can have technical problems?  Young people just tend to follow their phones.  Charlotte pointed out that Google Maps don’t advise on the status of a route to ensure appropriate use.

Nick Doran thanked Jack for the presentation.  He asked if the focus of the research was on walkers and footpaths or are other user groups involved.  Jack advised that the focus was on all Public Rights of Way.  Strava collects data on walking, running and hiking.  With lost paths, volunteers will go on the evidence for the best way to create access.

Paul Richardson asked if The Ramblers are working with other outdoor activity and access groups, for example, cyclists.  Jack responded that there was analysis of the cycle network.  At various levels, The Ramblers were working with the Open Spaces Society and the British Horse Society, who are looking at lost Rights of Way. The research helps all users of the network and working together gives the groups involved more influence overall.

Ben Seal advised that British Canoeing, the Open Spaces Society, British Mountaineering Council and others are launching an Outdoors for All manifesto. There are a set of asks from the Outdoor Recreation community and it is expected that 15 to 20 organisations will sign up.  This sector is not good at communicating in a consistent way and they want to improve.  The big message from the Government is around a 15 minutes walk to nature strategy.  The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is currently information gathering - nothing has been implemented yet, but they are looking at green and blue spaces.  The Right to Roam is a topic under discussion at the moment around access to nature, and different people have different views on this.  There is an interesting video on the  Farmers Guardian website on this with four Peak District farmers taking part in a discussion on the Right to Roam.  How this is moved forward may depend on legislation brought through by the government as we move past the next general election.

Jack reminded the Forum about linear access to green spaces which is part of the discussion around access to nature.  This is a new era for access to the outdoors, with the next stage of access policy and legislation taking shape.  Louise stated that Local Access Forums are a result of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act and if there is movement towards some new Access legislation then LAFs are even more important. Jack commented that LAFs hadn’t met in some areas for a long time, they are valuable Forums and wondered if they could be given more influence.