Wanted! Miracle worker …

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By Richard Barron, Chief Operating Officer

…To be an outdoor access or rights of way officer. It’s a fascinating job. You will meet lots of characters, visit new places and learn about the history of the routes you walk every day.

I can see my house from here! A walk over West Lomond. Scottish access rights apply to virtually everywhere I can see (Richard Barron)

It’s very multidisciplinary in nature and what you will be doing on a daily basis will depend upon where you are in the country. You could be part of a team where each person looks after a different aspect of outdoor access or you may be the entire team. You could be looking after greenspace areas or processing planning applications. There’s also a fair chance you’ll be managing outdoor access from your desk rather than the footpath!

Broadly speaking, the public has a right of access to land either along linear routes (rights of way) or to larger areas of land. Exactly what access rights the public has depends upon where you are in the UK.

There really aren’t any outdoor access courses for students and countryside courses often deal with outdoor access in a very cursory manner. On the job learning is very much the order of the day. Other than your employing organisation, a great support network is offered by the Institute of Public Rights of Way Officers or the Scottish Outdoor Access Network.

There are some obvious things that outdoor access staff need: a love of the outdoors, a passion to share it with others and the ability to navigate are just some examples. Others are common to many countryside posts such as basic practical skills, the desire to protect the countryside and an encyclopaedic knowledge of coffee shops. Even more skills are common to many jobs including self-motivation, team working and working longer hours than planned.

Walking through history, The Cauldstane Slap across the Pentlands is a core path, right of way, heritage path and part of the long-distance Cross Border Drove Road (Richard Barron)

There are other skills that whilst not unique to outdoor access, are certainly a distinct advantage when applying for an outdoor access job including legal knowledge, people management, investigative techniques, organisation and problem solving. Let’s take a look at each.

Legal knowledge. There are many facets to the law and it is very useful to understand how legal processes work, the interaction between statute law and common law and how court cases can reinterpret Acts of Parliament. Of particular use is land, property and road (highway) law, though other branches such as health and safety and procurement have a role to play.

Your starting point is having a good understanding of the outdoor access law where you want to work. It’s different across the UK. For example, in Scotland the responsible right of access to land created by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, sometimes called the right to roam, applies to the majority of land and inland water. In contrast, in England land with open access rights created by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 only covers 8% of the land and no inland water at all.

There are extensive networks of public rights of way across Scotland, England and Wales. These linear routes have different legislative processes. For example, in England and Wales they are all recorded on definitive maps, whereas in Scotland this is not the case. Whilst there is statute law covering rights of way across the UK, the common or judge made law, has a big role to play. You can find yourself referring to case law from the 18th century and considering its relevance to today.

Find out about outdoor access law in Scotland, England and Wales or Northern Ireland.

People management. You’ll meet a lot of different types of people with a lot of different viewpoints and they all have one thing in common. They are all right! If you’re good at listening to people and sorting through what they are saying to get to the nub of the matter then you’re right for the job. Better still, if you can take the knotted mass that is outdoor access law and explain it to people of any understanding and background in terms that they can comprehend you’re really made for the job.

Managing Behaviour, Trying to encourage people to be responsible by using nudge signs (Richard Barron)

People can have entrenched views and it’s not just access takers versus land managers, it’s access takers versus access takers too. If you are good at mediation, able to see both sides of the argument, consider all aspects of the situation and chart a course through hopefully getting people to an agreed, possibly, compromised position you should be an access officer.

Investigative techniques. In the mediation example above, you may need to investigate to see how much of what everyone is telling you is correct, but your investigative skills can go in totally different directions. How did that right of way come into being? You can find yourself interviewing people to see how they have used a route over the years. Has their use been consistent with that necessary to create a right of way? What do old maps, enclosure records, estate records and tithe maps say of its ancient history? The history of rights of way forms part of our transport and cultural heritage and it’s a fascinating one.

Raving Rubbish, A camper from a countryside rave has discarded their tent and belongings (Richard Barron)

Organisation and problem solving. Outdoor access improves people’s physical and mental health, provides active travel opportunities and so helps fight climate change, but it’s rarely at the top of the resource list. This is a shame as the list of issues waiting to be dealt with can be long. The ability to review the list and prioritise it in to one that best fits the often-limited resources is a good one to have. Likewise, problem solving. There’s frequently more than one way to achieve a solution, but some require you to be more creative than others. Can you see solutions that others miss and that are achievable safely? Then you are a miracle worker and should join us in the world of outdoor access management.

About the author

Richard Barron has been involved in outdoor access work across the UK for over 30 years. He created CROW the National Catalogue of Rights of Way for the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society (ScotWays) and spent the last 20 years as an access officer with Stirling Council. Whilst there, he was involved in one the first court cases under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Today he is a specialist headshot Photographer and the Chief Operating Officer at ScotWays.

Find out more about ScotWays by calling 0131 5581222, visiting www.scotways.com or follow them on Twitter: @ScotWays or Facebook: www.facebook.com/scotways

Wanted! Miracle worker …

First published in CJS Focus on Employability on 23 May 2022. Read the full issue here