Our Society is made up of people like you with a common passion for walking. Whether it’s a walk over fells and hills or using an urban path to get to the shops, taking our children to school or exercising our dogs, walking is part of our lives. We value our rights, embodied in the law, to walk the rich tapestry of footpaths our local towns and countryside has to offer.
Like you we know the frustration of finding the way blocked or overgrown, of having someone tell us we shouldn’t be on their land, of misleading notices that have no legal status. Members of our Society have been dealing with problems like these in areas like yours since 1894, our roots can be traced back to “The Manchester Association for the Preservation of Ancient Public Footpaths” of 1826.
Councils are required by law to consult us when they are considering making any changes to the footpath network. Our team of volunteer assessors vet all applications taking into account local Members views and inspection reports completed by our Area Officers and Inspectors before we give our response.
We have a team of about seventy AO's and Inspectors who regularly
walk the footpaths in the area that they are responsible for. They also
report any faults and obstructions as they find them. All reports are
followed up with local authorities and we work with them to reach a satisfactory
result. Whilst we prefer negotiation to confrontation we can and do take
court action to protect the footpath network for all walkers.
As a Society we believe that protecting path is about more than chasing up problems, that’s why we put money into improving the path network with work such as planting our helpful signposts and building useful bridges. We have now planted over three hundred signposts throughout our area and these are maintained in perpetuity.
One day in the future your favourite path may be under threat, by supporting the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society you will be helping us to help you protect the footpaths that you walk.
We are a ‘prescribed organisation’ for Derbyshire, Lancashire, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Cheshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside. We are also consulted nationally on wider footpath related matters.
