Maintenance

Even the best made paths need looking after and regular maintenance will help make your network attractive to path users.  Hopefully you thought about maintenance issues at the design stage of your project, so you should be aware what kind of maintenance is likely to be required.  Now that your project is completed, you need to make sure that maintenance is still appropriate.  You should also set up a schedule or timetable for who is maintaining your path, what they're doing and when they're doing it. 

Avoid waiting for things to break or wear out before tackling things, and try to look ahead for likely problems before they happen. A maintenance schedule should be produced for each individual path, and should be backed up with regular inspections to make sure that things aren't changing more quickly than you expect. This is part of your "duty of care" to users to make sure that the path is safe.

As well as the path itself you need to make sure any structures, such as bridges or gates, are kept in good repair. This may require regular inspections and may need specialist help to assess whether, for example, bridges are safe to use and what action needs to be taken.

The Lowland Paths Guide contains more information on planning and undertaking maintenance.