Stile Council: Where Are We Heading For?

I read an article today – someone sent me a link to it, knowing it would be of interest in my line of work. At first glance, you may be wondering where the walking connection is – but bear with me, and all will be revealed.

In it was described a council that have outsourced or intend to outsource so many of their services – not just the usual suspects such as parking, highways and so forth, but planning, regeneration, HR, IT, procurement, finance, legal services, trading standards, council housing, environmental health, rubbish collection, libraries, care of the vulnerable and the disabled, and even, would you believe it, cemeteries and crematoriums – that in the space of just a couple of years, the council will have shrunk from just over 3,000 staff to just over 300. 

To save their embarrassment, I won’t name them.

According to the article, there appears to be three main concerns about a state of affairs such as this. Firstly, all of these services are being farmed out to a very limited number of massive, privately-owned infrastructure and business services companies that have little knowledge of local issues and concerns, whose contracts are such that the details are often shrouded by “commercial sensitivity” and who can, in a worst-case scenario, go bust. Where would that leave us?

Secondly, these contracts are typically let over lengthy timespans, often as much as 10 years at a time, so the entire democratic process is lost to the local community – whoever you vote for, you get the contracted infrastructure company, like it or not.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, local expertise is lost. At the end of these lengthy contracts there will be so little experience, expertise and infrastructure remaining locally within councils that it would be almost impossible to return to the “old” way even if they wanted to.

These deals are usually touted as a route to saving money, although it seems that is not always the case. In one example, a deal was meant to deliver £70m savings and 100 new jobs: when neither benefit actually materialised, the contract was transferred back to the council.

So how does this affect walking, I hear you ask?

Well, the obvious answer is that local authorities are responsible, through Rights of Way departments, for the upkeep and maintenance of the all the footpaths, bridleways, by-ways and so forth. But with low priority, reduced budgets and outsourced responsibility, how will upkeep and maintenance of the network be enacted and policed?

The providers are only in it to make money, and I suspect there is little money to be had from contracts like this because we all know that RoW team budgets are miniscule in relative terms, and that a good footpath network runs on the goodwill of many people – landowners and managers, local volunteers, Ramblers’ groups, and the like. Will those volunteers still feel as altruistic if they are ultimately helping to line the pockets of big business and greedy shareholders?

The other aspect – the one that is perhaps most immediately concerning here on Ambles & Rambles – is that my own local authority, Northamptonshire, is set to adopt an “alternative delivery model” like this and follow in the footsteps of the council mentioned above, declaring just last month that it intended to outsource 95% of its work and go down to a skeleton staff.

Quite how this will manifest itself in the future, no one yet knows. It’s one thing to ask local residents to keep an eye out for any maintenance issues, to help fix a stile or put up a new waymarker, but another altogether to expect them to fight legal battles over illegal closures, maintain (or even improve by 2026, the cut-off date for re-inclusion of remembered but lost pre-1949 routes into the network and set out in the CroW Act 2000) the definitive map, or negotiate new access rights with landowners.

Because, in the end, it all comes down to money. It’s the reason that outsourcing is being proposed, and it’s why contractors will take it on. If they can’t make any money out of it, they won’t do it, and I’m sure they will be inclined to minimise outlay in order to maximise profit margins and keep shareholders happy. Unless the contracts are absolutely correctly specified then the contractors will work any loopholes they can find – they have whole departments given over to just that sort of fine-tooth-combery – and exploit them to the full if they can.

And by the time the contracts are re-let, there could be a lot of damage done.

Upper Harlestone, Nobottle & The Bringtons – approx 6.00 miles

Sunday November 3rd 2013

 

Map: OS Explorer 223 – Northampton & Market Harborough
 

Upper Harlestone – Midshires Way (W) – Nobottle – Little Brington – Great Brington – Chinkwell Spinney – Edge of Althorp Park – Upper Harlestone
 

It’s been quite a while since we last went out on anything other than a trundle round the local paths and lanes, and even longer since my last blog post. There are a number of reasons for this, none of which I will bore you with now (maybe later, eh?): suffice it to say that what with one thing or another we haven’t really had the opportunity.
 

So, faced with the prospect of a bright, sunny Sunday morning and with little to distract us, we decided to take advantage and get our boots muddy for the first time since returning from Albania. And we needed to reccy a walk for the next issue of the parish magazine. All in all, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.
 

On the Midshires Way between Upper Harlestone and Nobottle

 

The circuit itself was a fairly simple six-miler connecting a group of four villages located just to the southwest of Althop Park (home of the Spencer family, if you are struggling to recall the name). We began by parking in Upper Harlestone and taking the Midshires Way westwards towards the hamlet of Nobottle.

Designed as a link route between the Ridgeway and the Trans Pennine Trail, the Midshires Way runs through 230 miles of Middle England from Bledlow in Buckinghamshire to Stockport, Greater Manchester. With more than 40 miles of the route in Northamptonshire it is a path we come across quite frequently, but my last encounter with it was over one weekend earlier this summer when walking two different routes between Cromford and Turnditch.   

DAY 1

 

DAY 2

 

Heading for Little Brington

From Nobottle, we left the Midshires Way and picked a line across the fields towards Little Brington. The weather was still treating us kindly, and the surrounding countryside, whilst being nothing more dramatic than gently rolling agricultural land, looked as good as it gets. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but with its open farmland, country houses and quaint villages built from the local golden sandstone, the area has more than a hint of Cotswolds about it.

Great Brington Church, built in local stone

After picking up the Macmillan Way (designed to promote and raise money for Macmillan Cancer Relief) we reached Great Brington, where we sat to rest for a few minutes outside the solid-looking church and watched the world go by. Then a short walk across the fields brought us out on to the road that skirts the edge of Althop Park and leads back to Upper Harlestone.
 

Having a rest

 

At around 6 miles, this is a lovely little circuit for a half-day stroll. It’s a bit muddy in one or two places, but with some road walking and a number of good paths it is quite a manageable choice in winter. In fact it would make a great outing on a cold, frosty winter’s day – and there are a couple of fine-looking pubs en route should refreshments or food be on the agenda.

 

It’s been about 8 years since we last walked this route. On the basis of yesterday’s findings, we should ensure it is not another 8 years until we go again!

And Then It Was Summer

Bright sunshine, blue skies, soaring temperatures and the strawberries-and-cream-flavoured media-fest heralding Andy Murray's success at Wimbledon can only mean one thing: all of a sudden, summer has arrived.

Finally, it seems, the calendar and the climate have reached some sort of alignment.

Hare taking shelter from the heat

This weekend, we did a couple of short walks around the local lanes and fields. In part this was for exercise, in part to exercise some of our Path Warden duties. Either way, we were glad of the sun and the presence of the heat at last. OK, so heat an hiking are not always the happiest of bedfellows, but it's not long now until our next walking trip abroad, and the thought of going from the teens of degrees we have experienced so far this year to something approaching 40° Celsius without any real acclimatisation was, frankly, a bit of a concern.

Poppies

Having walked a few times before in high heat, I think we have gained some practical experience in dealing with these potentially debilitating conditions. Through a mixture of preparation and precaution, I feel we are able to handle the temperatures now as well as we ever have done. Even so, it's a big ask to cope with such conditions (and the attendant risk of sunburn, heat exhaustion, dehydration, etc) without building up to it, so this weekend’s mini heat wave has proven judicious.

In the space of a couple of weeks, the local countryside has changed quite noticeably. Despite the belated arrival of this year’s summer, crops are maturing, and the hedgerows are flourishing: not unlike the fields and boundaries we came across while walking the Camino almost two months ago. It just goes to show what an influence climate and latitude can have on the development of quite similar vegetation.

Camino in May



Northamptonshire in July

And yet, despite the long, wet spring we have experienced this year, the ground in places is parched. Is it due to global warming, is it over-use of the land or is it just the result of a few hot days? Who knows?

Cracks in the path



In the end, whatever minor nuances there may be from one year to the next, the world still turns, and the seasons still come and go. The passage of time is incontrovertible. But as well as marking what has been, the advent of a new season heralds the arrival of something exciting to look forward to, with new experiences waiting to be enjoyed, and a chance to embrace the future as well as measuring the past.

Red and yellow and green and blue

There It Was: Gone!

And then, almost before we knew it, the snows of the last two weeks were gone. On Friday night we were slithering home from the pub in a wet, sleety blizzard. Now, barely 24 hours later, the sun is out, the roads are clear and the fields have reverted back to the gloopy muddiness to which we have become accustomed.

Since my last posting, we have managed a few local trundles: no outings really worth posting about in themselves, but a steady accumulation of miles collected traversing nothing more challenging than local lanes and fields.

We did a bit of “Path Wardening” on Sunday: a local resident had reported an access issue with one of our nearby paths, and, with the subsidence of the snow, we were able to have a look at the problem. A mess, no doubt, but do Rights of Way have a responsibility to address matters such as this? I don’t know, but I can’t help but think it is as much to do with poorly draining soil and the incessant wet weather of 2012 as anything else.

One way or another, January seems to have slipped by in the blink of an eye. But although we haven’t done as much walking as we might have liked, we have at least been busy on the planning front, and holiday prospects for the forthcoming year have been gradually solidifying into concrete plans – more of which in due course. One thing is for sure, though: we will need to be stepping up the pace a bit to be ready for the first of them!

PPW, TMO & The Morning After ….

Last night had ended sometime early this morning. The great and the good of the village had assembled for the annual Safari Supper: a merry-go-round evening of food, fundraising and fine company, finished off with a gentle wobble home along frost-fringed pavements beneath clear, starlit skies. Dimly, at the back of my mind, I recall the village magazine editor reminding me that deadline day for the Winter edition was only a few days away: was my copy ready?

Here, in Northamptonshire, the council operates a volunteer system of footpath monitoring known as the Parish Path Warden scheme, and yours truly is the local incumbent. PPW duties involve walking all the paths in the parish a minimum of twice a year, reporting any problems, carrying out minor maintenance (for example replacing lost or damaged signage) and acting as local liaison on the ground.

In addition, though, I’ve found myself agreeing to write up a short, local walk for each quarterly edition of the magazine. Which meant Sunday was the only day to do a recce …..

Fortunately, the morning dawned bright and clear. The well-deserved hangover failed to materialise (something to do the sun always shining on the righteous, perhaps, given all the “fundraising” we’d been indulging in last night) so we were up, breakfasted and away by a reasonably acceptable 10.30am.

Today’s walk was an 8-mile circuit taking in the villages of Lamport, Hanging Houghton and Maidwell, along with sections of the Brampton Valley Way (a disused railway line originally connecting Northampton and Market Harborough). It was a beautiful late autumn morning, and the many stands of mature trees were glowing at their colourful best in the sunlight.

Unfortunately, I’d left my camera at home ….

I’d picked this route for two reasons: firstly because I reckon it would make a great circuit for walking off any seasonal excesses on Boxing Day (there’s nothing too strenuous to contend with for those who were overly refreshed the day before), and secondly because it keeps, by and large, to fairly clean, well-surfaced paths and tracks – always a bonus during the muddier winter months.

I say “by and large”: we encountered a three-quarter-mile section, designated as a Byway (or BOAT – Byway Open to All Traffic), which was quite wet and muddy underfoot. Routes with this kind of designation are, as the name indicates, open to access by a variety of different user groups, including motorised traffic. This particular section is subject to a Traffic Management Order (TMO) excluding all motorised traffic except motorcycles, and gated to restrict access by 4x4’s and other large off-road vehicles.

As we made our way we were twice passed by a group of four trail bike riders, all of who were careful and polite, giving us a wide berth and keeping within the law as far as we could see. However, the earth in these parts is quite heavy, and doesn’t drain too well at the best of times. Coupled with that, the wet summer we have experienced this year has left the ground even softer than it would usually be, so it’s not hard to imagine that, come spring, this stretch might be a complete quagmire and likely in need of expensive repairs (probably unaffordable on current ROW budgets).

Now, I don’t want to come across as a killjoy, and recognise that the riders had every right to be there, but to me four noisy trail bikes – churning up the track and shattering the peace and quiet of the countryside – somehow doesn’t seem right, especially one that brings motorised transport into contact with slower-moving walkers, runners, horse riders and cyclists, no matter how legal it may be in the eyes of the law.

The Jeremy Clarkson’s of the world might be happy to ridicule the likes of me and have some smart-arsed put down at the ready, but I’m just as entitled to my opinion as anyone else, and I think off-roading is an inappropriate activity for the countryside.

Sunshine & Necessary Calm

It seems to have been a weekend of fine weather across the whole country, the sort that makes you believe spring has actually arrived. With temperatures in danger of soaring to record levels for the time of year, Meteorologists have been reaching for the Mercury, expectant for that all-important fraction of a degree, and it’s easy to imagine long, warm days for the weeks ahead.

For walkers it signals the time to venture Narnia-like into the far reaches of the wardrobe and unearth all that long-forgotten warm weather kit, swapping flasks for water bottles and consigning waterproofs to the rucksack and fleeces to the drawer.

Of course, there may well be a sting in the tail, but it finally feels like the worst of winter may be behind us. Don’t get me wrong, I like winter – love it, in fact – but it’s also nice to feel the excitement of new adventures as a new season is heralded in.

So, it was exactly the sort of weekend for throwing all your kit into the car and heading off to bag that iconic peak you’d promised yourself you’d do next time you got a nice day, right?

Well, not quite …

For reasons that will become apparent in future posts, we had a fairly full weekend lined up, with visiting family and completing a few chores on the list of things to do. We did, however, make time for a stroll out – a couple of hours round the local fields and lanes in gorgeous sunshine, and a first walk of the year in short sleeves.

We decided to do a bit of footpath wardening on our walk, keeping to local paths and lanes. Crossing the fields towards Old Poor’s Gorse we passed few other walkers, and the sky was full of Skylark song ripped away on the breeze. The footpath condition was good, with clear routes already established through the new crop growth and nothing untoward to report. We spotted a couple of Hares laying low nearby, only half hidden in the short vegetation. They paused a moment, unsure, before racing off into the distance.

The return route was a little busier with dog-walkers and cars to contend with, but still beautiful. It is a surprising area: more than once, on a sunny day, I’ve found the rolling countryside and long field boundaries lined with rows of individual trees reminiscent of Tuscany, something the accompanying photos fail to capture! Perhaps it’s just wishful thinking, but that’s how it seems – at least in my memory. Maybe we should go, just to find out.

All in all, we were glad to be able to fit a walk in – what with all the other things going on at the moment – and it has proved beneficial in providing a bit of necessary calm at the start of a busy week.