Meetings for Footpath Volunteers

We have a lot of footpath volunteers, most of whom work fairly independently. We think it is important for our volunteers to have a chance to get together, partly to hear expert speakers addressing topics relevant to their work but equally importantly just to meet each other and talk about issues of mutual interest.

Key Facts

• Kent Ramblers deals with four Highway Authorities: Kent County Council, Medway Unitary Authority and the London Boroughs of Bexley and Bromley
• The footpath network is huge: 4,680 miles across the whole area
• In Kent the proportion of bridleways is smaller than in most other parts of the country
• Paths are under constant threat from diversions, level crossing closures, obstructions and development, especially solar farms
• Our volunteers cover 387 parishes (Kent and Medway) and wards (Bexley and Bromley)
• We have several active footpath maintenance teams that help to clear overgrown paths
• We have a project to refurbish parish footpath maps

Fragmentation and Data Sources

Graham Rusling, head of KCC's public rights of way team, amazed us all with a review of the sources of data about path usage now available. Once upon a time, KCC relied on mechanical switches on steps or the interruption of laser beams by walkers (but also by butterflies) to measure path usage. Nowadays people's phones are constantly sending details of their whereabouts to phone companies and suppliers of various apps such as Strava. This data, duly anonymised, can be bought by Highway Authorities to estimate path usage after suitable scaling based on comparison with on-site counters.

KCC is combining data from several sources to plan improved connectivity of the bridleway network to compensate for the low proportion of bridleways in Kent.

Ramblers' Path Improvement Tracker

Colin Sefton described these national Ramblers' initiatives. The Ramblers needs to measure the extent to which our path maintenance teams improve the path network and an online tool has been provided for them to record this information. A new initiative has just been announced to improve guidance on safe working practices for these teams.

Archiving and Kent County Council

Margarethe Batteson, our Area Footpath Secretary, sought to raise awareness about opportunities for the large quantities of paper records held by many volunteers to be handed over to the Kent County Archives for preservation. We therefore have a duty to see that our own records are preserved for future generations.

Railway Crossings

Sam Pead and Leyla Amir-Alikhani from Network Rail described the challenges of preventing accidents to pedestrians on level crossings including remote rural crossings involving public footpaths.