Public Rights of Way Volunteering

Public Rights of Way Volunteering

Learn how you can become a Public Rights of Way Volunteer.

Do you fancy getting out into the countryside and getting to know your local area better whilst helping to improve access for others? If so, then volunteering with the Public Rights of Way (PRoW) Team may be of interest to you. Volunteers contribute greatly to the work we do in the Public Rights of Way team, helping with both statutory duties and other improvements to the network. We have a number of volunteer roles depending on your particular interest and time availability. Information relating to the various roles can be found below.

Contact Public Rights of Way team for volunteering

Parish Path Wardens

Parish Path Wardens are volunteers who are appointed to assist in the maintenance and improvement of the public rights of way network within a given area (usually one or more parishes).

Parish Path Wardens are expected to regularly survey all of the paths within their parish(s), waymark the routes, carry out minor vegetation and minor repairs. There are also optional duties to the role such as carrying out more extensive clearance and maintenance, providing advice to landowners and leading guided walks. We ask for a minimum 12 days a year commitment with this role.

Recreational Route Wardens

The Recreation Route Warden volunteer role is similar to that of the Paris Path Warden but, instead of covering parish areas, involves looking after one of the circular walks or a stretch of a long-distance trail promoted and maintained by the PRoW team. 

Recreational Route Wardens are expected to inspect their route on a quarterly basis, carry out waymarking, minor repairs and minor vegetation clearance. Optional duties to the role include more extensive clearance and maintenance, providing advice to landowners and leading guided walks. We ask for a minimum 4 days a year commitment with this role spread across the year.

Volunteer Groups

We work with and support a number of volunteer groups across the county to carry out more substantial practical maintenance tasks on the rights of way network. These tasks include installing gates, ditch crossings, waymark posts and carrying out vegetation clearance. Our groups range from ramblers groups to parish community groups; with some tasks being supervised by a member of the PRoW team and others being supervised by trained volunteers.

Should you be an individual or group interested in our group volunteering, please get in touch to discuss this further.

Mapping Team Volunteers

Occasionally there are openings for volunteer work within the mapping team to help with tasks such as Legal Event Modification Orders. Should this area of work be of interest to you please contact us to see what volunteer vacancies we currently have with this area of the team.

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