Herefordshire Footpaths Campaign
Total length of Rights of Way:
3358 km
% ‘easy to use’ (2004/05):
44%
Position in Unitary Council league table:
44 out of 46
In Herefordshire you are never far from a river. There are plenty to
choose from: the Wye, the Lugg, and the Teme. Not forgetting the
Arrow, Fromie, Leddon, Doyer, and Munnow. Of course this also means
that Herefordshire has an awful lot of riverbank footpaths. And
these footpaths are prone to erosion.
Back in December 2000 Herefordshire Council ‘temporarily’ closed Eardisland footpaths 5 and 6 due to severe erosion of the riverbank. And in the words of the council: “Since then has attempted to resolve the problem with the landowners to no avail.” Local members individually became very active trying a number of innovative and technical approaches to find a solution. This contrasted with the almost total inactivity of the council who appeared to adopt a ‘hope it goes away’ approach. Well much of the riverbank footpath has indeed gone away and in the process has deprived locals and visitors alike of the only access to the Arrow in Eardisland.
These days in common with most areas of Britain, Herefordshire’s
economic wellbeing is fundamentally linked to the number of visitors
it attracts every year. Over 80,000 people visited the 2005 Guardian
Hay Festival which was closely followed by the council’s own walking
festival between 18 – 26 June 2005. Many walks featured in the
walking festival were along riverbanks. Herefordshire cannot afford
to simply hope the riverbank footpath erosion problem goes away.
In spring of 2005 the RA formed a campaign working group to consider
the problem throughout the county. Using Eardisland footpaths 5 and
6 as a starting point it is their intention to persuade
Herefordshire Council to adopt a pro-active set of guidelines to
deal with riverbank paths before the problem becomes insoluble.
If you would like to help with this campaign - anything from
occasionally writing to your councillor to helping organise
campaigning, receiving updates on the campaign or submitting your
experiences of walking in Herefordshire - contact Des Garrahan (desg@ramblers.org.uk
or 020 7339 8526).
Alternatively if you wish to support the RA's work nationally please visit: