Ramblers today

The Ramblers' Association is Britain's biggest organisation working for walkers. A registered charity with 141,000 members across England, Scotland and Wales, we've been looking after Britain's footpaths and defending it's beautiful countryside since 1935 by

• Protecting Britain's unique network of public rights of way.
• Promoting walking by providing information to help people plan walking trips and to enjoy it in safety.
• Increasing access for walkers.
• Defending the beauty of the countryside from the inappropriate industrialisation of the countryside.
• Educating the public about their rights and responsibilities and the health and environmental benefits of walking.

Our Work

Encouraging Walking

The Ramblers work to encourage walking of all kinds as an enjoyable and healthy activity and the most sustainable means of transport.

• Organising regular walking festivals and events, such as our Festival of Winter Walks and the Llonc and Chlonc festival in Wales.
• Researching and publicising the health, social and economic benefits of walking, and supporting local 'healthy walking' initiatives.
• Pressing for a greater recognition of walking for leisure and as a means of transport by central and local government, and for the enhancement of walkers' facilities.
• Using our unrivalled expertise to provide advice and information on all aspects of walking, including the provision of detailed and authoritive information aids on a range of walking related topics.
• Organising an extensive programme of group walks led by our groups.

Protecting Footpaths

The Ramblers Association campaigns to open up all public rights of way in England and Wales and to ensure that the existing rights of way network is protected, as part of our national heritage, and is available for everyone to use.

• Persuading Local Authorities to undertake their statutory duties and keep paths open and useable for all members of the public. The main problems included missing signposts, deliberately blocked paths, ploughing and cropping and missing or broken stiles and bridges.
• Organising an annual national Footpaths Week, as well as local campaigns, to highlight the importance of footpaths and to persuade local authorities to finance their public paths properly.
• Producing research showing the health and economic benefits of footpaths.
• RA volunteers open up and keep open thousands of miles of footpaths each year by undertaking practical footpath work, surveying footpaths and reporting path problems.
• Campaign on issues of safety for walkers, such as the ongoing Safe to Cross campaign dealing with improving crossings where footpaths meet busy, dangers roads.
• Undertake legal action, where necessary, to protect the rights of way network.

Increasing Access for Walkers

The campaign for the freedom to roam over some of our wildest and most beautiful landscapes started over a century ago and was enshrined in the Ramblers' Association's charitable aims in 1935. Over a century of hard work by ordinary people has culminated in new legislation in the last few years.

• In November 2000 the Countryside and Rights of Way Act was passed which will grant a new public right to walk on certain types of open uncultivated land (mountain, moor, heath, down and common land) in England and Wales.
• The Countryside Agency in England, and the Countryside Council for Wales, have been mapping both countries by region. This has involved a full public consultation at all stages. The first two areas of England will be open from Autumn 2004.
• The Act also requires that local authorities establish Local Access Forums, made up of representatives from local communities and recreation bodies to advise on access issues.
• The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 establishes statutory rights of access to mountains, moorlands, forest, farmland, coasts and riverbank, giving Scotland one of the best arrangements for outdoor access in Europe.

Defending the beauty of the countryside

Protecting the countryside and the urbanisation of the countryside are issues that lie at the heart of the RA's work, directly affecting the experience of walking in the countryside. We have campaigned on wide range of issues from road building to the designation of new national parks.

• Two new national parks are planned for England, the New Forest and the South Downs. The RA has worked hard to ensure the government includes all appropriate areas within the designated boundaries.
• Ramblers Scotland campaigned successfully for Scotland's first national parks resulting in the Cairngorms and the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Parks in 2002.
• Walking is the most sustainable form of transport and a national walking strategy is urgently needed. 1 in 3 households in Britain have no car; better provision of public transport enabling people to reach the countryside is a major concern.
• In April 2002 the government introduced a new levy on quarrying, better reflecting its environmental costs. This important victory for the RA and other groups ensures that beautiful areas of countryside will be better protected.
• The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill is currently going through Parliament. Change to the planning system is needed, but the RA is concerned by some of the proposals weakening public involvement in the planning process.
• The growing proliferation of mobile phone masts has been the focus of a campaign to ensure that planning legislation requires developers to consult with communities affected by telecom mast proposal, and consideration is given to minimising the impact of masts on the landscape.

Download Ramblers Association organisation chart (16kb).

see our formal charitable objectives