Letter: Simple ways to improve quality around district

Harrogate Group of the Ramblers’ Association welcomes the Government’s recent announcement of a new £2billion package to boost walking and cycling over the next five years.

The Harrogate group considers that by far the most important requirement for walking in the Harrogate district is to ensure that all public paths and roadside pavements are safe, well-maintained, easy and pleasant to use, and that substantial funding from the package should be allocated for this purpose.

In built-up areas, the need is for roadside pavements, ginnels and other paths intended for walkers to be well-maintained and safe. They should also be well-lit (in winter months many journeys to and from work and to and from school are in the dark).

The Harrogate group supports cycling, but wishes to point out that cycling on roadside pavements is illegal, inconsiderate, and a threat to walkers’ safety and enjoyment (young children cycling on the pavement can of course be overlooked). Pavements are for people.

In the countryside, stiles and gates on public paths should be safe and easy to use, and paths should be unobstructed by nettles, brambles, crops, and overhanging branches. Landholders have clear legal duties with respect to public rights of way on their land. Public rights of way should be signposted and waymarked so that walkers can find their way along them without difficulty, and this is of particular benefit to those who are new to walking in the countryside.

Good paths on the edge of town enable people to walk out into Harrogate’s attractive countryside straight from home. At present under powers derived from the 1984 Traffic Regulation Act some footpaths on the outskirts of Harrogate are temporarily closed for building developments. In the public interest, it is desirable that the time-span for such temporary closures be kept to an absolute minimum.

These are all simple, cheap basics that done properly would do so much to improve the quality of local conditions for walking. Walking is beneficial to individual and public health, helps to reduce pollution, and enriches people’s appreciation of their local environment.

The Harrogate Group of the Ramblers’ Association is a local group of the Ramblers’ Association, a national charity that promotes walking and protects public paths.