28th March 2024

Search Kettering Town Council

Walking

Introduction

Walking can provide a healthy and enjoyable means of sustainable everyday travel for all ages and is completely cost and pollution FREE. There are numerous benefits to walking including:

  • Strengthen your heart
  • Reduce risk of disease
  • Improve your sleep
  • Exercise your brain
  • Stay looking young for longer
  • Strengthen your bones
  • Give you energy
  • Increase your life expectancy
  • Makes you happy
  • Can be social
  • Is environmentally friendly
  • Be convenient
  • Provide reliable journey times
  • Boost your vitamin D intake
  • Help prevent dementia
  • Tone up your body

Footpaths and footways

Rights of Way are public footpaths, bridleways, byways, permissive paths, and other such forms of access, as distinct from roads and highways, which are adopted by the Council (North Northamptonshire Council). Ordinance Survey maps identify the network of routes around Kettering and across the country. Problems with footpaths can be reported via the FixMyStreet website.

If problems persist, then contact the Councils' parish path wardens Jamie Wildman jp.wildman@hotmail.com or Ian Gemmell ian1krishna@yahoo.com.

Schools, clubs and organisations

Schools

Children who walk to school arrive refreshed, fit and ready to learn. During morning peak traffic times, one in five cars on the road are taking children school, contributing to congestion, air pollution and carbon emissions. The school run alone is responsible for generating half a million tonnes of CO2 per year. Setting up walk to school schemes and working with their school community will help address these issues, such as:

Walking Bus - a group of children walking to school with one or more adults

Park and Stride - a simple idea for families who live far away, to enjoy the benefits of walking to school by asking them to park a ten minute walk away and complete their journey on foot.

You can find links to initiatives, stories, resources and products on this topic, and many others, at:

Active Travel Solutions For My School | Brightwayz

Walk to School | Living Streets

Grange Primary Academy > Enrichment > Active Travel Ambassadors

KBA students' Park and Stride

Clubs

Kettering and District Rambling Club was established in 1937 and exists to Promote walking, friendship and enjoyment of the countryside local to Kettering. Increase awareness of the many attractive areas and protect the right of access. Anyone with an interest in walking is invited to join.

The Ramblers Association Northamptonshire Area helps local people enjoy walking and protect the places we all love to walk. Regular walks led by local experts and these offer a great way to get outside, make new friends and discover how walking boosts your health and happiness.

Organisations

Brightwayz provides the products, services, solutions and information resources to support your active travel plans and initiatives.

Living Streets is a UK charity for everyday walking. Their aim is a nation where walking is the natural choice for everyday local journeys. Their mission is to achieve a better walking environment and inspire people to walk more. They have walking campaigns for schools, for older people, employees and communities. They also have the Pavements for People Campaign which aims to cut clutter on our pavements and encourages problems to be reported.

Smart Move for Northamptonshire provides information on leisure walks, park runs and opportunities to walk including tours and everyday tasks.

Safety

StreetSafe is a pilot service for anyone to anonymously tell the police about public places where they feel unsafe, because of environmental issues, eg street lighting, abandoned buildings or vandalism and/or because of some behaviours, eg being followed or verbally abused. Please note: 'StreetSafe' is not for reporting crime or incidents.

Police Help

If something has happened to you or someone you know (including in public spaces online) you can call the police on 101 or find out what online reporting services are available. If you have a hearing or speech impairment, you can use textphone service 18000 or text the police on 999 if you've pre-registered with the emergency SMS service.

WalkSafe

The WalkSafe app has sat-nav features, which include a live map where your family and friends will be able to track your journey and chat with you in real time. It provides a map which allows people to plan their safest route home, by looking at recent crime data. TapSafe will immediately connect you to loved ones if something goes wrong. HomeSafe can automatically alert loved ones if you fail to get home on time.

Last updated: Tue, 12 Dec 2023 12:38