Public Access Strategy - Review & Analysis Overall Pattern of Existing Provision

The provision of current and potential access routes varies considerably across North Lanarkshire as a whole, reflecting variations in topography, land use and settlement.  Key distinctions include:

• three long distance routes radiating out from Glasgow to the west, comprising the Forth-Clyde Canal (the Millennium Link) through the Kelvin Valley to the north, the Edinburgh to Glasgow national cycle route which runs east-west across the centre of North Lanarkshire and the Clyde Walkway which runs along the south western edge of the council area;
• the Clyde Valley provides a cluster of paths and tracks.  Some of these are rights of way while others are farm or estate tracks.  A number of the paths are managed for access.  The Motherwell Green Link Strategy identified a number of the paths and tracks as part of a circular network of routes around Motherwell and Wishaw;
• the incised valleys of the North and South Calder provide further access corridors through the urban and urban-fringe landscapes of central and southern North Lanarkshire.  The North Calder Water valley includes the Monklands Canal and has been developed for access under the North Calder Water Heritage Trail project.  The valley includes a number of other paths and tracks, a number of which are rights of way.  The South Calder Water, flowing from east to west along the north side of Wishaw and Motherwell was also identified as an important corridor in the Motherwell Green Link Strategy.  Again, the valley has a combination of rights of way and other tracks and paths;
• Cumbernauld has a particularly dense network of paths, linking the town with the surrounding countryside.  To the north this is constrained by the A80 road corridor. To the south, however, the network extends into Palacerigg Country Park where it links into existing rights of way.  Taken together, the paths form an almost complete route around Cumbernauld;
• the Kelvin Valley provides another important lowland corridor.  In addition to the Forth-Clyde Canal, the valley has a number of rights of way and a network of routes around Kilsyth;
• the Kilsyth Hills form an area of upland to the north of the council area.  A number of routes (all rights of way) run up the southern escarpment of these hills, or run along the Garrell Burn which drains to the south.  Within the hills themselves a combination of tracks and paths form an extensive network, crossing into East Dunbartonshire, Stirlingshire and Falkirk;
• the plateau farmlands occupy the middle ground between the urbanised and lowland parts of North Lanarkshire and the higher moorlands that run along its eastern boundary.  These farmlands include a number of rights of way, though the distribution is uneven and the area between Airdrie and Cumbernauld has particularly few rights of way.  These areas do have farm and estate tracks through these rarely connect to provide a coherent network;
• the higher moorland areas also have comparatively few paths.  The principal exception lies to the south of Harthill where there are a number of rights of way and a network of paths created by the Central Scotland Countryside Trust.  These extend east across the authority boundary.

The legal status of rights of way is defined by the Scottish Rights of Way Society. Routes can be Vindicated, Asserted or Claimed, according to their legal status and the extent to which they are accepted by landowners, supported by local authorities and used by the public (see glossary for full definitions).

North Lanarkshire has a relatively uneven distribution of rights of way, partly reflecting variations in topography and land use and the urbanised nature of a significant proportion of the area.  The area has no asserted or vindicated rights of way, 228km of claimed rights of way and 23km of other rights of way ('other ROW' are other paths which have been included in the Catalogue of Rights of Way).  North Lanarkshire's population of 326,750 means that there are approximately 1252 people per km of Rights of Way, as compared to a figure of approximately 335 persons per km in Scotland as a whole.  These figures should, however, be considered with caution, given that they relate to length, and not condition, of Rights of Way.

• Information from the Catalogue of Rights of Way was supplied in digital format by Scottish Natural Heritage.  There is an uneven spread of rights of way within North Lanarkshire.  In part this reflects variations in topography, land use and settlement.  However, it also reflects the differing approaches adopted by former local authorities in the area.