Footpath Report for 24/25 for St Margaret (27) Newton (17) and Michaelchurch (29)
When Herefordshire County Council took over responsibility for the Public Rights of Way from Balfour Beatty there was a period of adjustment and less support for the volunteer PROW officers but now things are improving .There was a recent meeting at Peterchurch with Stephen Organ, the volunteer support officer, and Ceri Belli, the PROW inspector for South Herefordshire, which brought us up to date with the new arrangements including a dedicated reporting channel for PFOs and gave an opportunity to discuss any difficulties we were experiencing. We were given some basic kit (very welcome having blunted my secateurs and pruning saws over the years of footpath walking) and told about the inventory of bridges which is the PROW current activity.
The newly devised scheme for parish councils with Lengsthmen contracts whereby volunteer PFOs were asked to draw up a list of all structures needing replacement, photos of such and what3words locations was introduced this past year. We engaged with this but discovered that the grant only covered the “hardware” not the installation costs. This made it an expensive option. whilst the long established scheme of landowners applying for and being supplied with whatever was needed to install themselves remains at no cost to the parish. However there is now to be some funding available for installation in 25/26.
There is a problem too for PFOs in knowing who the landowner is , and for data protection reasons the council is unable to share this. On the dedicated site PFOs are encouraged to log their activity which gives better information centrally as to which paths have been checked. However the way the footpath numbers work mean that often one will walk part of a path rather than the whole length, whereas the reporing form asks for the full path. We do now once more get a reference number for our reports, if there is a problem we have identified it will be logged and if subsequently we address the problem it can be marked up as completed.
With the Golden Valley Pilgrim Way and the Herefordshire Trail being promoted by Visit Herefordshire this makes these routes Category 1 so more important to keep well maintained. Currently there are some problems on SM17 coming through Great Wood but hopefully the landowner will get these seen too shortly. I have also had a walk with Ceri belli to show her a couple of problems which have arisen on NW15 and NW8 and NW15 and she is taking this forward. A rerouting of SM14 and 15 past Shobdon Farm has also been mapped on GPS so should now be appearing on the official route. Interestingly though the officials were adamant that kissing gates should be installed despite the landowner saying she wanted stiles. As she rightly pointed out kissing gates may have their place but they do not allow larger dogs to go through nor sit well in a rural landscape.