How You Helped develop This Plan
The publication Core Path Plans – A Guide to Good Practice[1] recommends that informal consultations are held to raise awareness of core paths and to find out which routes communities currently use, what their aspirations may be and which paths they feel are important.
Scottish Borders Council has consulted widely with communities and landowners to identify important routes for more than twenty years starting in 1994 as part of the Scottish Border Paths project.
As a partner in Scottish Border Paths, community participatory appraisals became the basis on which paths have been developed for the benefit of local residents and visitors alike.
In 2003, Scottish Borders Council undertook an audit of existing and potential access routes throughout the area in consultation with Community Councils and this confirmed that a wide range of access provision is already in place, although the majority of routes have not been tested on the ground.
The feed-back from communities naturally focused on short distance routes around towns and villages, emphasising the access needs of urban populations. Longer routes linking a number of settlements were not identified by local communities, but exist as strategic routes developed through the initiative of public bodies.
All previous public consultations have gathered a substantial amount of information which has identified important paths where people would like to be able to walk, cycle, horse-ride, or use for water recreation, including suggestions for improving routes in the future.
In addition, recent consultations have been undertaken.
View the Proposed Core Path Plan including Maps.
[1] Core Path Plans - A Guide to Good Practice, Scottish Natural Heritage and Paths for All (July 2005)
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