Thursday November 5th 2020
The Penicuik to Dalkeith walk way. Photo courtesy of the Midlothian Paths Group.
Midlothian Council will launch the second stage of a consultation asking for final comments on local paths on Friday 13 November.
The council is reviewing the Midlothian Core Paths Plan, first published in 2009, in line with the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
This is so it continues to be “sufficient for the purpose of giving the public reasonable access throughout their area”.
Core paths are routes free from obstruction that provide some clear use to the public, such as for recreation, commuting, and accessing facilities.
The council wants to gather final comments on paths as part of the review of the Midlothian Core Paths Plan before progressing to a formal consultation on the Draft Plan in 2021.
The first stage consultation of this review lasted 4 weeks from 11 February to 6 March 2019 and comments returned have, where appropriate, been incorporated into this latest version of the proposed plan.
This second stage runs until Monday 14 December. You can get involved by visiting www.midlothian.gov.uk/core-paths to tell the council about:
– Your objection to a core path, including reasons for this objection
– Incorrect routes including how to correct either the 2009 routes or the proposed 2018 routes
All the comments will be collated and analysed. The final draft Core Paths Plan will be prepared for a more detailed consultation with the public and landowners. The consultation for the draft plan will take place over a statutory 12 week period. During this time the council will accept comments and formal objections to the plan.
A new requirement for this Core Paths Plan is that landowners will need to be given notice if there is a proposed Core Path crossing their land. This requirement does not apply to existing core paths.
If all objections are resolved then the council will seek approval for the plan.
If objections cannot be resolved, an inquiry may be held to decide on whether a given objection is upheld in order that the council may take forward its plan for approval.
To view the core paths on an interactive map CLICK HERE.
To read the Midlothian Core Paths Plan CLICK HERE.
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