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Welcome to the website of the Warwickshire Area Committee of the RAMBLERS
We are just one of the Area Groups under the Ramblers banner, about which it might be noted:
Ramblers is a Registered Charity supporting walking and improving access to walking routes; in fact, Britain’s largest walking charity and community. It serves two primary purposes:
- acting as a political pressure group to protect the public's legal right to walk across the British countryside
- functioning as a social club that organizes thousands of group walks, protecting and promoting walking through several key functions:
1. Defending the "Right to Roam" and Public Paths: Historically, much of the UK's land was privately owned and closed off to the public. The Ramblers campaign to open up the countryside.
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- Instrumental in establishing National Parks, securing the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000, and establishing the England Coast Path.
- Legally protecting the UK's 140,000+ miles of public rights of way. For instance, if a developer tries to illegally block a path, or a farmer plows over a historic trail, the Ramblers step in to fight it.
- Running crowd-sourced campaigns to map and legally save thousands of miles of historic, forgotten paths before they are lost to public access.
2. Physical Maintenance: Actively maintaining paths and , in this, a network of over 20,000 volunteers going out come rain or shine to clear overgrown bushes, fix broken stiles, build bridges, and install waymarkers, so that everyday walkers don't get lost.
3. Operating a massive Social and Walking Club: For everyday members through its social network of over 500 local groups across England, Scotland, and Wales.
- Organising over 50,000 group walks a year, ranging from gentle, short urban strolls to strenuous all-day mountain hikes, all led by experienced volunteers.
- In inclusivity: having dedicated subgroups designed specifically for younger walkers, families, and people new to the outdoors, to help make walking accessible to all.
What our Area Group does: Through our Area Committee elected by local members, we assist in the work and actions of Ramblers' groups in our defined area, and represent them at national membership level through nominated representatives.
- The contituent Area Groups are within the Warwickshire and West Midlands county boundaries, and are listed on the Contacts page.
- Our Aims are to co-ordinate efforts and interests of the area groups in our domain, to advise on national policies, to coordinate policiy and activities, and to cooperate with separate councils in maintaining pathways under their statutory duties for Public Rights of Way (PROW), in respect to safety and reasonable ease of publics access.
We have an annual general meeting (AGM), and the next one is planned for 27th Februaray next, to be held at Sutton Coldfield.
Our last AGM was held on 28th February in Hampton-in-Arden followed by a choice of walks. The Area Annual Report including accounts is available.
Path work, with regard to what we campaign for:
Great news for walkers and follows years of campaigning by the Ramblers. It's a step in the right direction for the government towards making it a reality for more people to enjoy the benefits of walking and connecting with nature. Setting a deadline meant that any paths not applied for by that date would no longer be able to be added to maps based on historical evidence and risked being lost forever.
- After years of campaigning by the Ramblers, the government had abolished the deadline of 2026 and there was some relief that that would allow respite for out lost and forgotten footpaths to be register without too much hurry—and these things do take time to research and get recorded in a defined manner. But in December 2024, a new deadline was set for 2031.
- More recently, in December 2024 it was changed, and the deadline was repealed. With some hope, Local Authorities would have the time required to properly assess whether paths met requirements to be added to the “definitive map”. We were relieved of a little pressure of having an arbitrary deadline in England or Wales, which compomised validity of so many rights of way.
- The 'Definitive map' is the legal record of public rights of way, established by the Atlee government, when the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed in 1949. Councils hold these maps, but they can usually be seen at local libraries, depending on Council policy and scheme for updating them.
About Committee Meetings: