www.ramblers.org.uk


Shropshire Footpaths Campaign

Total length of Rights of Way:                                5354 km
% ‘easy to use’ (2004/05):                                       48%
Position in County Council league table:            33 out of 34


Shropshire is one of the RA’s campaigning success stories! The county had a very poor record for rights of way, but after persistent campaigning, the council has started to devote more resources to footpaths with improvements now being seen on the ground.

In 2002/3, Shropshire’s rights of way were rated amongst the worst-maintained in England. Only 36% were judged to be ‘easy to use’ by the Audit Commission. The council’s own employees admitted to 50 years of neglect, estimating that £500,000 was needed each year for the next five years to clear the backlog of obstructed and badly maintained footpaths.


At the end of 2002, the RA launched a campaign to improve Shropshire’s paths, and things began to change. RA members, co-ordinated by local volunteers and supported by staff, began to lobby county councillors and to work with the local media. The council started to take the issue more seriously. First voting to increase resources for countryside and rights of way work by £150,000 and then earmarking a further £150,000 of capital funding for the replacement and repair of bridges. After a year of intense campaigning the RA achieved a big breakthrough. The 2004/5 council budget saw the previously allocated money retained, along with a promised extra £1.5 million of capital funding spread over the next 3 years.

Following the 2005 county council elections, the new administration decided to cut 10% from the capital funding. The RA organised lobbying and news stories to protest this cut, and it is hoped that councillors – surprised by the scale of resistance – will steer clear of further cuts in the future. Despite this setback, as the capital funding programme won by the RA takes effect, you can see things are improving on Shropshire’s footpaths, This success would have been impossible without the participation of RA members, and the dedication and hard work of a number of committed volunteers, whose efforts show how effective good campaigning can be!

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 Shropshire - contact Sarah Perry (sarahp@ramblers.org.uk or 020 7339 8582).
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