Publicity

By now you'll probably have spent a lot of time and effort on your path network, so you need to make sure that people use it.  To do that, they need to know that it exists!

There has been a huge investment of public money and personal effort in developing paths in Scotland for many years. Sadly, this has not been matched by the same commitment to getting people to use the paths. Good promotion of path networks will help to give people the confidence to use paths and try new activities.

The key is to look at things from the perspective of someone using your paths, and ask a few simple questions:

• Who are they?
• Where do they want to go?
• What would they like to do?
• What will motivate them?
• What prevents them using paths for walking, cycling and horse riding?
• What is the best way to communicate with them to promote path use?

You also need to think about encouraging people who don't currently use your paths but might benefit from doing so and how you can reach them. For example, maybe you've created a new section of path which could be used by residents in a sheltered housing complex to help them get outdoors.  Ideally, you should start planning your ideas for path promotion early on, alongside the development of the path network itself. By doing so you can make the most of opportunities to tell people about your paths, while they are still being developed.