For answers to other FAQs, click on the relevant link below:

Funding
Risk Assessment
CRB checks

Insurance
Natural England carries reasonable third party liability insurance for its Walking for Health activities.

The insurers require us to let them know how many schemes are covered by our third party liability policy. Therefore it is essential that you let us know when you are setting up a new scheme so we can provide accurate information. Please ring 0300 0600 338 for an application form.

The Future of Walking the way to Health
Natural England
On 1st October 2006, the Countryside Agency ceased to exist and WHI became part of Natural England. Natural England is a single new body, integrating the Landscape, Access and Recreation division of the Countryside Agency with English Nature and most of Defra's Rural Development Service (RDS).

Natural England works for people, places and nature, with responsibility for enhancing biodiversity, landscapes and wildlife in rural, urban, coastal and marine areas; promoting access, recreation and public well-being, and contributing to the way natural resources are managed - so that they can be enjoyed now and by future generations. Natural England continues to support and promote WHI.

The Future of the Project
Walking the Way to Health was five years old in October 2005 and, over its lifetime, has achieved many successes. We have supported the development of over 400 schemes and grant funded more than 200 of them. A very high percentage of the 30,000 walk leaders we have trained continue to lead walks. There are now approximately 350,000 people enjoying led walks every week as a result of the initiative and a great many more are aware of the benefits of joining a health walk scheme or walking independently.

Two evaluation reports on WHI have been published: a national one compiled by Oxford Brookes University and a local one based on results gathered from individual schemes. These reports show that WHI is now targeting the people who will benefit most from regular health walks - particularly those who wouldn't take any other form of activity. They also show that people tend to continue attending health walks for a much longer period of time than is typical of other forms of physical activity.

Thanks are due to each and every one of the volunteers working out there in the community who have made all the led walks possible. You are part of a growing movement of people aware of the benefits that regular, brisk walking - for at least 30 minutes, five times a week - can bring both to the individuals taking part and to the walk leaders who enable the walks to happen.

The Big Lottery Fund grant, which helped to make WHI possible, came to an end on 31 March 2006 but that doesn't mean the initiative is resting on its laurels. Natural England continues to fund WHI, which means that we can continue to promote walking by supporting schemes and individuals. This work is being carried forward into the new body.

WHI will continue to provide the following support to schemes and individuals:

• Volunteer Walk Leader training via cascade trainers
  
• Public Liability Insurance
  
• A Website and a Learning Network
  
• Newsletters
  
• Merchandise for purchase
  
• Promotional material
  
• Local case officer support
  
• A membership scheme (new, as from summer 07)

June 2007

Highway code and pedestrian groups
Ideally, if there is no pavement and people are walking on the roads they should follow rule 2 of The Highway Code, as follows:

2 - If there is no pavement, keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic. You should take extra care and

• be prepared to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light
  
• keep close to the side of the road

It may be safer to cross the road well before a sharp right-hand bend so that oncoming traffic has a better chance of seeing you. Cross back after the bend.

However, it may not always be practical or desirable for large groups of people to do so. They may find it difficult to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light. In those circumstances walkers should follow rule 5 of the Code, as follows:

5 - Organised walks. Large groups of people walking together should use a pavement if available; if one is not, they should keep to the left. Look-outs should be positioned at the front and back of the group, and they should wear fluorescent clothes in daylight and reflective clothes in the dark. At night, the look-out in front should show a white light and the one at the back a red light. People on the outside of large groups should also carry lights and wear reflective clothing.

It will be a matter of judgement for the people involved to decide which approach is safest according to the circumstances at the time.

These rules in the new edition of the Highway Code published in 2007 do not differ significantly from the rules in the previous edition, first published in 1999. Rule 5 now refers to "large groups" rather than "groups" and to pavement rather than path, but otherwise is the same as the 1999 version

John Doyle
Road User Safety Division 4
2/15 Great Minster House