Scotland’s largest land management college is an ideal setting for the Paths for All demonstration path.

The demo path, with all sorts of gates, signs and surfaces, is located on the north side of the West Lothian campus. Courses at the college include Countryside Management, Rural skills, Landscaping and Activity Tourism. It is the ideal place to see how to make public access and land management work together, including nine different ways to let people through and along a path while keeping livestock, cars and motorbikes where they belong.

Paths for All’s Demonstration path (C) B Jones/SNH

The site showcases different gate designs, signage, path surfacing materials and bridges, all of which can be funded by the Scottish Rural Development Programme’s Improving Public Access scheme (IPA), managed by Scottish Natural Heritage.  If you are a landowner or land manager or constituted group you can apply for funding to improve your local paths.  The Scottish Rural Development Programme’s IPA fund is open until 31^st May 2018.  Further details can be found on the SRDP webpage.

The Paths for All Active Environments team has recently been awarded £28,715 to improve and expand access at the Oatridge Demonstration site. The improvements will benefit the local communities, students, staff and visitors to the area, and also give aspiring path builders some inspiration.

More information about Paths for All can be found on their webpage.