Rights-of-way workers will have the chance to earn a gong in the first awards ceremony for those working to protect footpaths and access.

Rights of Way: a 'brickbrat' profession

The Institute of Public Rights of Way Management (IPROW) says examples could be improving access by linking two previously isolated routes; good practice in resolving access disputes; innovative designs for new access routes or making a significant contribution to definitive maps.

A shortlist will be announced later this month before the presentations at the institute’s conference in Llandrindod Wells, on 23 and 24 September.

IPROW executive officer Geri Coop said: “Ours is a brickbat profession. Rights of way work is, by its nature, a highly critical and contentious area and it’s the officers on the front line who are constantly getting the flak.

“That doesn’t always reflect the enormous strides that IPROW and its members are making in the drive to raise standards of access management.

“Morale can suffer and people’s confidence dip if all the fantastic work they do goes unrecognised and unacknowledged. The Right Way Awards are being introduced to redress that balance.”

Nominations for the awards are now closed.