Milton Keynes - already ranked by The National Highway and Transport Public Satisfaction Survey as one of the best places in the country for its public rights of way network - is set to have further improvements.
In England, public rights of way grant people access to walk, cycle, and horse ride on certain paths, even if that means crossing privately owned land. In Milton Keynes, there’s as estimated 550km of public pathways of this kind. Over the last 10 years Milton Keynes City Council has replaced many rotten and narrow bridges with wide, accessible structures, resurfaced a variety of damaged and uneven routes including the use of innovative new surface types, replaced hundreds of broken timber stiles with heavy wearing steel gates, and created a new circular walking route in Olney which includes over 1km of newly dedicated public footpath.
The city council’s new Rights of Way Improvement Plan sets out even more ways the network of footpaths and bridleways will be improved and made more accessible. Proposals include:
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New pedestrian friendly links so residents and visitors can avoid walking along roads to reach one right of way from another.
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More informative signage and maps available for download
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Removing physical barriers like stiles from the network to improve accessibility
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Encourage healthy lifestyle choices for the residents of Milton Keynes through promoting use of the network
A draft of the Plan was consulted on during 2022, and will be considered at a public meeting on 20 June.
“I hope with even more improvements to the right of way network, we can encourage more people to use our city’s vast number of open green spaces on foot and bike and explore what MK has to offer.”