Making the countryside more accessible

A commitment to improve access to the countryside for all Shropshire residents and visitors has been outlined in a scrutiny report this week.

The report was presented to the Community Services Scrutiny Panel on Thursday (13 December), and provides a summary of recent and existing project initiatives designed to making access to the countryside easier.

Current project initiatives include the Walking for LIFE! Project, which aims to improve opportunities for older people and the sedentary population to access the countryside more. Another intiative is the production of a series of guides on areas that are suitable for wheelchair users.

A new project called Shropshire Outdoors will be looking at improving opportunities to access the countryside for people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

Councillor Peter Corston, Chairman of Shropshire County Council's Community Services Scrutiny Panel, said, “The Walking for Life and Shropshire Outdoors project are bringing in a total of £434,000 external funding into Shropshire. These projects are great examples of the commitment to delivering easier access within the countryside, and will make a real difference to the quality of people’s health and lives.”

The scrutiny report also outlines the aims of the Countryside Access Strategy to increase the opportunities for hard-to-reach groups to access the Shropshire countryside and improve people’s health. It aims to encourage more people to be active in the countryside; an example of which is to increase number of people undertaking ‘active’ volunteering in the county, through Parish Paths Partnership schemes.

Parish Paths Partnership volunteer Brian Morris said, " It has been great to see such a positive response to the work we have been doing, whether it be improving stiles or publishing suggested walks. We recently had over 80 people turn out for a 'Beating the Bounds' walk we organised back in September. A lot of people have expressed their gratitude for the efforts the group have made to make the local rights of way friendly again!"

14 December 2007