About Walk England
Who are WE?
Walk England is a social enterprise. Being a social enterprise means we have a social aim – which is to help as many people as possible to enjoy walking and do more of it, but we trade as a business. We are not a government body, or directly funded by anyone. We deliver projects for a range of organisations, and any profit we make goes back into the company for more walking projects.
We currently are working on projects supported by the Department of Health, Department of Transport, BIG and Transport for London, as well as a number of smaller projects.
We aren’t your typical company – we don’t have an office (although we do of course have a registered office address) – all our 12 staff work from home. We are scattered across England from Hadrian’s Wall to the Ridgeway. Everyone who works for us loves walking, and is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring others to walk, and to supporting professionals in their work for walkers. Our CEO is even called Mr Walker!
We’ve been around since 2008. In 2009 we took on the Access Company and the projects and staff associated with it.
What do WE do ?
We deliver walking projects – for example the Walk4Life.info website and Walking Maps. But we do lots of other kinds of work too including :
Promoting walking information to the public
We know the biggest barrier to walking is lack of information – people just don’t know where they can go, what it will be like, and how long it will take. We deliver a range of projects designed to address this including websites, maps, leaflets, and advice to professionals. Examples include advising the New Forest National Park Authority on providing accessibility information to the public, delivering the Walk London project on behalf of Transport for London, and of course the walk4life mapping website.
Advising Government
We provide advice to a range of government departments and to local government. Examples include providing policy advice to the GLA and providing active travel advice to the ODA. We have also worked with many local authorities including advising Warwickshire County Council on waymarking and the DDA, we also and reviewed the management of National Trails. We are currently writing a Walking Action Plan for NHS Greenwich.
Provide training and information networks
We deliver training on a range of walking-related subjects. We have trained Local Access Forum members on subject as diverse as ‘The Big Society’ and ‘Being more effective’, we also train walk leaders and walking ambassadors. We have set up networks of walking professionals, both on-line and through conferences and seminars. We call on the skills of a group of self-employed trainers to ensure we have the right skills for the subject we’re covering.
Undertake research
We like research, but only if we think it will make a difference – we hate writing reports just for the sake of it. But we have done quite a bit of it, including research into good practice in mapping for the Department of Transport, and into the best way to monitor use of countryside sites for the National Trust for Scotland (I forgot to mention we do work outside England, despite our name !). We also reviewed Rights of Way Improvement Plans, and the ROWIP process for Natural England.
Deliver walking projects
This is what it is all about – actually making things happen – we love delivery ! We currently manage the strategic walk network in London on behalf of TfL. This involves employing route managers, setting and maintaining quality standards, auditing routes and carrying our improvements, designing, printing and distributing leaflets, providing an information line, creating and managing a website, and reporting back on our effectiveness. We also deliver smaller scale projects, for example we created a series of maps for NHS Camden for GPS and health professionals to use to encourage patients to be more active. We have worked with employers to encourage staff to walk more through a range of initiatives including lunchtime walks, training, challenges, guided walks and maps. We’re full of ideas – it’s always worth talking to us even if you aren’t sure what you want.
Monitoring, audits and surveys
We know just how important good quality data is – and we’ve got a lot of experience in collecting it and presenting it. We evaluate all our projects, and set KPIs for large projects to ensure we can demonstrate value for money. We can also help with evaluating other projects. We work closely with Loughborough University and Colin Buchanan who advise us on evaluation. We can advise on monitoring use, and can install counters and report on the data. We are experts in accessibility auditing – we audited all of the National Nature Reserves in Scotland and Wales ! We have designed and carried out a range of surveys … including working with our colleagues at Walk21 to develop an international methodology to measure walking.
We work with lots of different people, at the moment we are working with the Dog industry to encourage dog owners to walk their dogs more, and with charities to encourage people to walk more for their health. We’re flexible, friendly, and there’s a good chance one of us lives somewhere near wherever you are – so why not get in touch ?
You can get hold of us by email to :
[email protected]
or by calling 07779 582446
if you need to know our registered address it is :
2 Temple Back East,
Temple Quay,
Bristol
BS1 6EG
