 There has been much reported progress with sign and pathways maintenance work being done since just last year. This followed an intense Rambler's Association program of path walking by all of it's local groups, where all walked pathways were reported upon to the central Ramblers office, where a map record was maintained. It constituted a basic survey of the state of all the paths, so that there was a better idea of their state of repair nationally, and so work to repair where needed could be speeded up by the walking community.  Not all paths got walked, as can be seen from the maps which are there at the site to be viewed, but most did it seems.
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| Edited: 05/07/08 06:38 |
 Ramblers walking every path? Ramblers doing all the work? Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we heard all this before? Without wanting to name names and cause mortal embarassment to anyone, a local authority near me rose to the challenge of clearing and signposting ALL its rights of way before a Rambler-imposed deadline of the year 2000. While the Ramblers were moaning that the job would never get done, the local authority finished all the work YEARS in advance of that date. All it took was a two-man team working round the clock, and they got NO help at all from the Ramblers, nor did they get ANY credit whatsoever for doing the job. As far as I'm aware, they were the ONLY authority to do the job anywhere in the UK. You might have expected at least a mention in the Ramblers own press, but no, nothing. You might wonder what the story is with those rights of way today. Yeah... of course... some of them are overgrown because no-one ever used them. Instead of walking every path, the Ramblers were walking elsewhere and writing jolly little pieces in their newsletters saying that "a good time was had by all", and never once mentioning paths in their locality. By the way... I'm a Ramblers member!
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Nice rant about the Ramblers Paddy (and I am definitely not a member) But what makes you think that it was a member of the Ramblers? Uk.rec.walking is just a usenet forum open to all. It started up in the mid 90s before browser-based forums like this were available, but sadly now is in terminal decline even though its now available through a browser as a Google group. I've found actually found GSV "Three Minds in a Can" 's website here although its a bit of a faff to use. On his last post on the subject he said he'd walked 6500km to survey the first 1000km of paths because he had walked every journey from his home, without using a car! (I thought you might like that).
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Tiredandweary - It was just a response to Trevor's post, in which he assumes that the Ramblers are doing more than their share of work. I travel a lot around this country, and I've met a lot of local authorities doing work in the countryside, and I've never yet met any Ramblers doing the same. I don't doubt that they do their share, and I applaud them for it, but the honest truth is that the vast bulk of work in the countryside is done by local authorities.
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Oops sorry Paddy, I'm afraid Trevor's on my ignore list so I didnt see his post  . I need to remember that when replies dont seem to match.
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That's OK Tiredandweary - it's mostly just a long list of links that I don't think many people have the time or the will to read.
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I recently learned of a possible reason for the lack of maintenance/definition in some parts of the East Sussex FP network. I believe there are 3 people in the dept that organises 'work to be completed', one person on permanent leave due to illness, another person working part time, which leaves one chap who cannot authorise work independently. I imagine, due to ROW not being high profile or vote winning, situations similar to this could prevail in other parts of the country.
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| Edited: 05/07/08 11:42 |
 That's OK Tiredandweary - it's mostly just a long list of links that I don't think many people have the time or the will to read. LOL Paddy!
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Ramblers walking every path? Ramblers doing all the work? Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we heard all this before? - Wrote Paddy. Paddy you seem to be deliberately misreading what I'm writing there for some strange reason known only to thee. I said that the set Ramblers intention to get members to walk each and every of the paths recently was sadly NOT completely managed. I did say that most paths DID seem to have been survey walked though I thought. I also NEVER claimed either that Ramblers Association volunteer work gangs did 'ALL' the work needed doing. I simply stated that volunteer work party gangs from the Ramblers did a heck of a lot of pathway and pathway furniture repairs, each and every year across the nation as a whole.  That was all that I actually did say there. Paddy, I'm a Ramblers member too, and in my local Ramblers area affiliated group as well; and I have a good few times over the last few years met volunteer Ramblers works repairs parties at work on pathways in Kent and Sussex/Surrey in particular. Upon speaking to these groups of people it has turned out that the groups were out to do repairs that the local authorities were just not finding time nor interest to get done themselves.
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| Edited: 05/07/08 15:49 |
Well it's a question of percentages then... the percentage of footpath work done by the Ramblers versus the percentage of footpath work done by local authorities. I have to say that I gave the Ramblers their chance, many years ago, to give due credit to one local authority that had done exactly what the Ramblers were campaigning for, but it fell on deaf ears. It might have had something to do with the fact that the Ramblers in that particular local authority hadn't lifted a finger to assist, nor were they prepared to walk the paths in their own area. I'm surprised I'm still a member of the Ramblers!
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Regarding the finding of footpaths on the ground: click here . Does anybody know of 'the local realm act' (or similar), I overheard that an area can be developed, and ROW's surrendered, within this 'local realm'. I find myself wondering what the advantage might be for a landowner if ROW's are not recorded and then a 'local realm' comes into being within his/her land portfolio? Would all the areas that are earmarked for windfarm development come under 'local realm'?
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The responsibility for signeage where the ROW leaves a public road is your local county council,it is also up to them to check out any problems regarding surface deterioration or blockages and either clear them or approach the landowner to do so.Here in N.Yorks,outside the National Parks,a lot of the work of surveying the paths and some of the lighter work is doe by a willing band of volunteers and the system seems to be working.The first point of contact should be a footpath officer at your local Highways Authority,often walking groups try to make it a political issue when often it is a question of funding,it seems footpaths are a low priority for some authorities.
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