The Council is currently putting together a plan of a basic framework of paths that will serve the needs of residents and visitors throughout Dumfries and Galloway. This is our 'Core Paths Plan', required by the Scottish Government under the Land Reform Act. In the future these paths will be featured on the OS 'Explorer' maps as a purple dotted line.

To see a map of the proposed core paths please click the Core Paths Viewer

Page updated: 13/10/11

Formal Consultation

The draft plan was made available for public inspection from the 13^th of July to the 2^nd October 2009.  547 representations were received during this period, of which 338 said that the Dumfries and Galloway Council draft Core Paths Plan was 'sufficient to give reasonable outdoor access throughout Dumfries and Galloway'. In addition, 17 new responses were submitted relating to matters which arose following the statutory consultation, for example, where an objection was made on the grounds that a certain path had been omitted from the plan and the land-manager objected to its subsequent proposed inclusion.  Therefore a total of 564 comments were made on the draft plan. 

Dumfries and Galloway Council focused on trying to resolve objections through management solutions or amendments to the plan.  128 responses requested changes to the plan but were withdrawn following dialogue with council staff.  265 responses resulted in a total of 65 changes being proposed, (sometimes one change is proposed as a result of multiple requests).  71 responses were comments not requiring a change to the plan.

The residue are 100 'unwithdrawn objections' relating to 23 specific issues.  These include responses requesting that additional paths are included and that specific paths are not included.

In addition 93 errors were identified and corrections proposed.  The majority of these were minor mapping errors. 

The Dumfries and Galloway Outdoor Access Forum was consulted on every proposed change, both those resulting from the consultation and through the identification of errors.  Community Councils were consulted where local information was required or issues were felt to be controversial.  Where new paths were proposed by members of the public, land-managers were contacted directly to find out if they had any objections.

A list of those who responded is available here  summary of responses [444kb]

The draft plan along with the proposed changes and the unwithdrawn objections are now being considered by the Department for Planning and Environmental Appeals.

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Background

The Scottish Government has asked Dumfries and Galloway Council, like all local authorities, to map the paths considered to be key to the area. These are termed 'Core Paths', and should give residents and visitors reasonable access throughout Dumfries and Galloway. To do this, the Council has looked at a set of routes identified by the public at events organised by community councils. Paths which have good community support, serve one of a number of functions and can be brought into a reasonable condition within three years are being proposed as core paths. Paths which compromise the safety of those taking access aren't included, nor those which duplicate existing routes in an area.

Most of the proposed core paths already physically exist and they can include existing rights of way, off-road paths, coastal routes, farm tracks or even minor roads. The paths provide a mixture of functional and recreational uses including walking, cycling, horse riding, access to water and other forms of non-motorised recreation. They should be well sign-posted, maintained and welcoming. In addition to providing a network for reasonable access, core paths will help to realise a wide range of additional benefits including promotion of healthier lifestyles, reduced car usage, increased tourism and assisting landowners to manage visitors.

The Core Path initiative is a duty arising from the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. For more information on the Act, please go to Scottish Natural Heritage - Access

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Timetable

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Final Draft Core Paths Plan: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

The Environment Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 requires all plans and programmes to undergo Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). This applies to plans and programmes in certain sectors (e.g. forestry and town and country planning) which are determined to have significant environmental effects. SEA provides a systematic process for identifying, predicting, reporting and mitigating the environmental impacts of proposed plans and programmes. A  Strategic Environmental Assessment [7Mb] has been carried out to assess the environmental impact of developing the draft Core Paths Plan."

Annandale and Eskdale:
 Scheduled Monuments Gardens Designed Landscapes [1Mb]
 Conservation Sites [11Mb]

Nithsdale:
 Scheduled Monuments Gardens Designed Landscapes [1Mb]
 Conservation Sites [8Mb]

Stewartry:
 Scheduled Monuments Gardens Designed Landscapes [1Mb]
 Conservation Sites [4Mb]

Wigtown:
 Scheduled Monuments Gardens Designed Landscapes [1Mb]
 Conservation Sites [3Mb]

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Contact Us

To make sure that you are notified of opportunities to contribute to the core path planning process, please complete the online form.