WALKING groups have welcomed a council decision to spend more on maintaining footpaths than had been originally proposed.

Last month The Westmorland Gazette reported that Cumbria County Council (CCC) planned to cut £806,000 from its budget for countryside access services.

Following a period of public consultation, the local authority has now agreed to reduce the budget by £353,000 instead.

The decision has been welcomed in some quarters but one of Britain’s leading walking representatives believes that the county council is still slashing too much money.

London-based Tom Franklin, national chief executive of the Ramblers Association, visited Orton, in the Eden valley, as part of a nationwide mission to discuss with members what effect the cuts could have.

He said Cumbria was among the top 12 counties he was most worried about over funding reductions.

“For an area like Cumbria, footpaths are essential for the community and they support so many small businesses.

“Even the revised cuts are going to mean that the quality of the rights of way will start to deteriorate, and the biggest impact of this could be on the tourism economy.”

Mr Franklin said ramblers had told him how much the paths had improved in the last 25 years, forging the county’s reputation as a great place to come and walk.

“That reputation could be tarnished with these cuts,” he said.

But other countryside access groups said they were pleased that the cuts were not as big as first suggested.

Charles Ecroyd, chair of the Cumbria Local Access Forum, the county council’s principal advisor on count-ryside access matters, said: “There was a groundswell of opinion that the proposed budgetary cuts would have had a catastrophic effect on access to the countryside both for local residents and tourists alike.

“Cumbria Local Access Forum is looking forward to working with the county council on the effective delivery of countryside access within a reduced budget to the benefit of all users.”

Derek Cockell, of the Wainwright Society, said: “We are very pleased that CCC has listened to the concerns expressed about the proposed funding cuts to countryside access services.

“Although a budget cut of 30 per cent is still a significant reduction, the county council has stated that it will be able to maintain a higher level of support for countryside access and will now be able to retain the skills, expertise and local knowledge of its staff, which would otherwise have been lost.

“We now think that the council has gone a long way to allay the fears expressed in our consultation response.”

A Cumbria County Council spokesperson said: “We’ve listened to the points that were made during the consultation and made a decision that will allow the county’s countryside to continue to develop in the future.

“No area of the council is immune from these savings but we firmly believe we can continue to maintain the rights of way to the required standard and even make improvements within the parameters of the tighter budget.”