Local Footpath Officers Wanted

Our Local Footpath Officers (LFOs) are our first line of defence against proposals from landowners and others for changes that would diminish the quality of our footpath network. Proposals on the scale of a solar farm are rare; more often a landowner just wants to divert or close a single footpath.

Unfortunately we don't have enough LFOs. There are 387 parishes (wards in Bexley and Bromley) within the area covered by Kent Ramblers and of these 76 either have no LFO cover or are covered on a temporary basis by someone who has done the job for many years and now needs (and deserves) to retire. We are therefore appealing for more people to step forward to help.

An LFO normally covers several parishes. On average, a single parish is likely to generate a case requiring consideration only every few years so an LFO needs to cover around ten parishes to ensure a regular flow of work to maintain interest and skills, although some LFOs have a substantially larger portfolio.

One of the problems in filling vacancies is that most of our members live in West Kent or the larger towns in East Kent while many of the hardest to fill vacancies are in the remoter parts of East Kent. However, an LFO does not need to be a frequent walker in the parishes he or she covers. All that is required is the occasional site visit when an issue needs to be addressed, much of the role involving deskwork done at home — examination of maps and documents, correspondence with members, the public, landowners and highway authorities.

The work of an LFO is interesting and satisfying — and very important to the protection of our rights of way. All out of pocket expenses will be reimbursed and training and support will be provided. For some LFOs, one of the highlights is to represent the Ramblers at a public hearing or inquiry.

This is not the first time that I have appealed to you, our members, to step forward to fill our volunteer vacancies. Previous appeals have yielded some results but not yet enough to cover the whole county adequately. Clearly I have not yet found the right words to persuade you all that if you want a better world then you have to act. Many of the world's problems are a bit out of our reach but the threats to the footpath network are not — the task of defending our paths is doable if we just have enough people on our team to do it.

Please, don't just think about it — do something about it. Get in touch at prow@kentramblers.org.uk for more information.