Official Report 825KB pdf
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S7M-00762, in the name of Paul McLennan, on Walking Scotland’s 30th anniversary. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates Walking Scotland on its 30th anniversary; notes the charity’s significant contribution since its inception to developing and improving Scotland’s path network and supporting and promoting walking for all through activities, grants and guidance; welcomes the Scottish Government’s continued commitment to walking and wheeling; notes that 86% of people in Scotland already walk or wheel regularly and that many want to do so more often; believes that investment in walking and wheeling delivers exceptional value, returning around £6 for every £1 spent and preventing thousands of serious health conditions; notes the view that walking is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to improve the nation’s health and wellbeing, one of the best ways to tackle the climate-nature emergency, increase social interactions and connectedness in communities across Scotland, including in the East Lothian Coast and Lammermuirs area, as well as generate economic benefits; notes the call for the Scottish Government to bring forward its proposed national walking framework as soon as practical and launch a path fund, and wishes Walking Scotland continued success over the coming years.
17:52
I am delighted to open this members’ business debate and to speak to my motion recognising the 30th anniversary of Walking Scotland. I thank colleagues from across the chamber for their support, and I warmly welcome representatives from Walking Scotland, and anyone else who is joining us in the public gallery or is watching online.
Thirty years ago, in 1996, the Paths for All Partnership was established with a clear and ambitious purpose: to encourage more people across Scotland to walk; to improve local paths; and to make our communities healthier, happier and better connected. Last year, the organisation rebranded as Walking Scotland—a clearer, bolder name that reflects both its heritage and its ambitions for the next three decades. Today, we celebrate that journey and the remarkable impact that it continues to have.
Walking Scotland is Scotland’s national walking and wheeling charity. Its vision is simple and powerful: everyone, everywhere, every day should have the opportunity to walk and to wheel. That inclusive approach—which explicitly embraces wheeling as well as walking—ensures that people of all ages and abilities, including those using wheelchairs or mobility aids, or pushing prams, can take part.
The results speak for themselves. Every week, the charity supports 800 health walks across Scotland, enabling more than 9,500 people to join friendly, local groups. Hundreds of volunteers have been trained to lead those walks. I have taken part in some of the walks myself, in East Lothian. Following my health scare last year, I took up the challenge of walking more, and I try to walk 30km a week—most weeks, I manage to achieve that. The workplace step count challenge has also engaged thousands of employees.
Through path improvement grants, millions of pounds have been invested in safer, more accessible routes that link communities to shops, schools, green spaces and public transport. In recent years alone, grants totalling around £4 million have helped to deliver real improvements on the ground. Those are not just statistics: they represent people who have found companionship after loneliness; regained confidence after illness or bereavement; improved their mental health; or simply rediscovered the pleasure of being outdoors.
Walking is free—it requires no special equipment, and is one of the most equalising forms of physical activity that we have. It helps to tackle health inequalities; eases pressure on the national health service; strengthens community bonds; and supports our climate and nature goals by encouraging short everyday journeys to be made on foot rather than by car.
Recent surveys by Walking Scotland show encouraging progress. A total of 57 per cent of adults now walk or wheel every day—up from previous years—and 86 per cent do so several times a week. However, significant barriers remain.
Why does walking and wheeling matter? The first reason is health and prevention. Walking and wheeling are simple ways to increase physical activity, support mental wellbeing and help people to stay healthier for longer, all while reducing demand on our NHS. Figures show that walking and wheeling prevented 3,644 serious long-term health conditions and 1,081 early deaths in 2025.
It also grows our economy. In 2025, the total economic benefit from all trips walked and wheeled in Scottish walking and cycling index cities was £1.2 billion . Walkable communities have increased footfall and revitalised high streets, improved access to local services and helped to create safer, more welcoming town centres and neighbourhoods.
I talked earlier about the barriers to walking. Poor pavement quality, safety concerns, especially after dark, and limited access to good local paths still prevent many people from walking as much as they would like. The majority of Scots say that they would want to walk more for both leisure and routine journeys—our job is to make that easier.
As we mark Walking Scotland’s 30th anniversary, it is right that we also look ahead. Walking Scotland, working with partners such as Living Streets Scotland, has set out a clear and practical agenda in its manifesto, “The Power of Walking—A Walking and Wheeling Manifesto for 2026”. It calls for walking and wheeling to be placed at the heart of Government policy across health, transport, planning and climate; for sustained long-term investment, including a national path fund to maintain and improve local networks; for inclusive design in our communities; and for improved safety through better infrastructure and enforcement.
Those are sensible, evidence-based asks. Research shows that every £1 that is invested in walking infrastructure can return up to £6 in wider health, economic and environmental benefits. In East Lothian, as in communities across Scotland, we see the difference that good paths and supported walking make. Whether it is on coastal routes or countryside paths, or through simple improvements that make the school run or a trip to the shops safer and more pleasant, the benefits are felt every day.
I am proud that organisations such as Walking Scotland help to make that possible. I place on the record my thanks to Kevin Lafferty, the staff, the board, the many partners and, above all, the volunteers and participants who make Walking Scotland’s work a reality. Their dedication over three decades has changed lives and strengthened communities.
This anniversary is both a celebration and a call to action. Let us celebrate Walking Scotland and its 30 years of outstanding achievement, and let us commit, across parties, to supporting the next 30 years so that Scotland truly becomes a walking and wheeling nation: healthier, happier, greener and more connected for everyone. I look forward to hearing contributions from colleagues.
17:58
I thank Paul McLennan for bringing the debate to the chamber and for his excellent speech, and I support the call—as I am sure that we will hear from every member—to congratulate Walking Scotland on its 30th anniversary.
We all know the benefits of walking and wheeling, which are wide ranging, from the environment to the health and wellbeing of the population. We should place significant focus on encouraging and facilitating that. It is fantastic to read about the work of Walking Scotland’s delivery programme alongside communities in schools and workplaces; the improved paths—many of us will have been along to see some of those improvements—which improve the community’s ability to use local paths; strengthening networks through members’ walking clubs; and promoting the benefits of walking by doing policy work.
Scotland has to be one of the best places in which to walk, with its beautiful scenery and its amazing and interesting cities, and of course its weather, or at least its access to technology and waterproof clothing, which will help with walking in Scotland; I know that many members in the chamber enjoy walking.
I do not often talk about my family in the chamber, but I will share a short story about us. In 2018, my husband, Hammy, and I, and my two children, Amber and Gordon, who were both still at primary school, walked the Bibbulmun track in Australia, which is a walk of more than 600 miles. It took us 51 days, and it was an adventure that I never imagined having. I want to be clear that I am not suggesting that everyone needs to do that in order to take up, and start taking pleasure in, walking. Of course, walking can be 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days, and that is perhaps why it can be seen as such an important tool in tackling many issues such as inequalities, social isolation and mental wellbeing.
Walking can be undertaken in rural or urban settings, alone or with friends. We must ensure that walking continues to be enjoyed by many people, and I will mention one or two things that might help with that.
In Scotland, we have the right to roam, which is an enormous privilege, but we must access the land responsibly, under the Scottish outdoor access code. Walking can be enjoyed in the majority of Scotland—in fact, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2025, which we passed last year, allows for much better use of the land, as it provides that land managers must ensure that they have access programmes.
In Scotland, we can enjoy the hills and mountains, the moorland, the woods and forests and the fields. As I said, the 2025 act ensures that landowners must provide for reasonable access to their land. It is important that that access is retained to ensure that walking in nature is welcoming, and the 2025 act allows us to scrutinise that, which is an important point.
My second point, which is linked to that, is about the underrepresentation of groups in walking, in particular in nature. We know that ethnic minority communities and inner-city families are underrepresented in accessing Scotland’s land. It would be great if, over the next 30 years, the Government and the Parliament—including all of us, as parliamentarians—and Walking Scotland could put special emphasis on increasing confidence among those underrepresented groups to allow them to access and enjoy the land. I hope that, as a result of that, we will, in future debates, be able to talk about all the people who continue to walk and wheel and enjoy the land.
I thank Paul McLennan once again, and I look forward to the contributions this evening.
18:02
I am absolutely delighted to be talking about walking, and I thank Paul McLennan for bringing this important debate to the chamber to celebrate Walking Scotland’s 30th anniversary. I thank Walking Scotland for the work that it has done on making Scotland more accessible for more people through running the Ian Findlay path fund on behalf of Transport Scotland. I support Walking Scotland’s calls for a multiyear path fund, as that is important. We cannot underestimate the importance of paths, and of the paths network Scotland project.
I align my thoughts with some of what Carol Mochan said about the Scottish outdoor access code. I represent the Highlands and Islands, and an awful lot of people come to Scotland to walk in my region. We have world-leading access rights—our land reform legislation is precious. I have actually met people who have chosen to move from England to Scotland—those are people who really love the outdoors—because we have the ability to access the land and they can roam wherever they feel moved to do so and have a sense of adventure. That is so important.
However, people do not have to go up a mountain to go out walking in Scotland. I am aware of many walking groups that are about walking for health and wellbeing. In my town, there is a walking group that meets every week; people are getting outdoors together and having a bit of social time, as well as looking after their health.
It was interesting to note that, when we were in lockdown during the pandemic, one of the Government’s health recommendations was to get out and have a walk. We absolutely need to be walking. However, for many people, especially those who live in urban areas, it is a challenge to get out in nature. Where do you go? That is why paths are important.
I have noticed over the years, when I get up into the mountains, that many more people are going out walking. We are seeing a much greater impact on the landscape, including the erosion of pathways and of nature.
We are getting more aware of precious biodiversity in habitats, where we really do not want to be walking. Therefore, paths are an important way of interpreting the land and making the land more accessible to people, as they help them to know where they can put their feet without damaging the precious landscape.
Communities want paths, and, of course, paths are not just about walking; they are also about wheeling. There is a fantastic all-abilities path in Assynt, in the minister’s part of the world, that was set up and is run by the Culag Community Woodlands Trust. It is a super path, because it is wide enough and is laid out in such a way that people can use a wheelchair on it. I would like more such paths to be created. It is fantastic that the community raised the funds to do that. Similarly, the community of Upper Achintore has a path that runs out of their neighbourhood on the hillside above Fort William, so that people in that community can get up on to the hills.
Core paths are important to Scotland, but they are not mapped well. We do not have a proper mapping system. I want to encourage the Government to move forward with that.
I want to underscore the need for multiyear path funding so that we can maintain these paths that are all over the place and support people to have access to the landscape in a way that supports nature. Local authorities that choose to charge a visitor levy have an opportunity to reinvest some of that income in the walking infrastructure, as many people come to walk in their areas.
In closing, I want to underscore the need for that path fund and the need to map our core paths.
18:06
First of all, I congratulate Paul McLennan on his motion. I whole-heartedly join him and other members in congratulating Walking Scotland on its 30th anniversary. I must confess that I am in awe of what Paul McLennan said about how far he is walking. Translating 30km into old money, I see that it is about 20 miles, which is 50,000 steps a week. That is pretty impressive, so I congratulate my colleague on his personal health initiative around walking.
Before I got into politics as an elected member of anything, the company that I worked for had a walkathon competition. We were formed into teams, and we all egged each other on to walk 8,000 or 10,000 steps a day. To do that on a sustained basis is no mean feat. What it brought home to me was just how sedentary my lifestyle is, like the lifestyle of many people, and how detrimental that is to our wellbeing—I use the word wellbeing in its proper context, not in the one that we often bandy about in this chamber. There is no doubt that getting out, walking and being in the countryside in particular is really good for the soul, and there is much to recommend it.
I am happy to endorse the excellent work that is done by volunteers, local walking groups and those who maintain and improve the paths of Scotland. I have nothing ill to say about that at all, but I am going to steer slightly away from that to talk about a broader concern that I have raised before in this Parliament.
The motion is great, but it calls for more public spending. It calls for a new path fund. Once we begin to call for more public money to be spent in a particular way by a particular organisation, we have a duty to ask questions about public money that is already being spent. I need to make it absolutely clear that I am not seeking to undermine the credibility of Walking Scotland and the good work that it undoubtedly does. It is a registered charity and a company that is limited by guarantee. However, in its most recent accounts it recorded an income of more than £5.8 million, and we know that vast sums of that income have come from the taxpayer. In 2024-25 alone, the Scottish Government gave it £2 million through Active Scotland, Transport Scotland provided another £1.53 million for the Ian Findlay path fund, and £220,000 further was connected with the wind-down of the smarter choices, smarter places initiative.
Like I say, all of that activity is very worthy, but we are not talking about a small community charity. This is not an organisation that exists on jumble sales or donations. We are talking about an organisation that has millions of pounds of public money in its care. That means that accountability is important.
As I say, Walking Scotland is a regulated charity that publishes accounts, and I acknowledge that.
We all recognise the great work that Walking Scotland does. One of the important points that I mentioned in my speech is the fact that research shows that every pound invested in walking infrastructure can return up to £6 in wider health, economic and environmental benefits. When we talk about public sector reform, one of the key points is the focus on the prevention agenda. This is a real evidence-based approach, in that one pound invested can return up to £6 in wider health, economic and environmental benefits. That is the real benefit of the work that Walking Scotland does.
I am not going to argue with any of that. I am making a broader point, which comes down to a concern that I have registered before about the direction of public money in Scotland. I am not disputing any of the good work that Paul McLennan is highlighting at all; in fact, I am speaking in praise of walking and of the idea that we should all be less sedentary.
The issue that I am seeking to highlight in this debate—it is, after all, a debate—is that this is not a public body that is directly accountable to Parliament in the way that Transport Scotland or, indeed, the Scottish Government is. That exposes an accountability gap that we in Parliament should not go on ignoring. It is a very real accountability gap, because Walking Scotland is just one example; I am not talking only about it. And, when we add it all up, we arrive at some very substantial sums of public money.
When an organisation is substantially funded by the taxpayer and entrusted with delivering public policy—that is what we are talking about—public accountability should follow public money. That principle is not really controversial, but I am raising it as a point of concern. I see that my time is up, and I do not want to beg further indulgence of the Presiding Officer or the Parliament. I will conclude.
I believe that we should be celebrating the 30th anniversary of Walking Scotland. However, as a Parliament, we should also be very careful about how public money is being spent in Scotland: the directions it goes in and what happens because of it. This is a clear case in which we can say that something really good has happened because of public money. However, is that true in every instance? I think that we should focus a lot more on that accountability gap. Again, I congratulate Paul McLennan not only on his 20 miles a week, but on his motion for debate.
18:12
I thank Paul McLennan for securing this debate. I am delighted to speak in support of a motion congratulating Walking Scotland on its 30th anniversary.
Walking Scotland has spent three decades championing the idea that walking and wheeling are not only leisure activities, but vital tools that help to improve our health, reduce emissions and connect people to the places where they live. Its work on path development, community programmes, grants, guidance and advocacy has helped to create a culture in which active travel is increasingly seen as a normal part of everyday life.
I will speak about initiatives in Kirkcaldy and the surrounding areas, where we can see the impact of walking and wheeling initiatives in practical ways. When we talk about active travel, infrastructure and funding are obviously hugely important. However, what makes the biggest difference on the ground are local organisations, volunteers and community groups.
In Kirkcaldy, Greener Kirkcaldy is one of the outstanding examples. For many years, it has helped people to make sustainable choices, improving their wellbeing and making them more connected to their communities. Through its active travel hub, it supports walking, wheeling and cycling initiatives that are accessible, practical and genuinely community led.
A hugely successful part of that work is Lang Toun Cycles. What started as a response to local demand has developed into a thriving social enterprise in the heart of Kirkcaldy. Over the past five years alone, almost 4,000 bikes have been repaired or refurbished. Thousands of local people have been supported to travel more sustainably, learn new skills and access affordable cycling opportunities. The project has also generated carbon savings equivalent to removing dozens of cars from the road.
Lang Toun Cycles understands that active travel is about more than providing a bike. It offers maintenance training, confidence-building sessions, led rides, e-bike loans, a children’s bike library, volunteering opportunities and practical support for people who may otherwise never consider cycling as an option. In doing that, it removes barriers and creates opportunities.
Active travel is increasingly understood as a key part of tackling health inequalities, reducing congestion and supporting our climate ambitions. As the motion highlights, 86 per cent of people in Scotland already walk or wheel regularly and many would like to do so even more. That encouraging statistic also tells us that people finally understand the benefits.
The challenge now is to ensure that people have the confidence, opportunities and safe, accessible routes that they need to make walking and wheeling part of their everyday life and that is where local organisations can make the biggest difference. In Fife, we have one of Scotland’s great outdoor success stories, the Fife coastal path. Stretching for 117 miles and designated as one of Scotland’s great trails by NatureScot, it is one of our longest and most celebrated walking routes, passing through some of the country’s most spectacular scenery and linking communities, beaches, harbours, nature reserves and historic towns along the Fife coast. Around half a million visits are made to the path each year, encouraging tourism, supporting hospitality businesses and showcasing some of the very best of Fife.
However, that path is far more than just a tourist attraction. For residents, it is where many of us walk our dogs, get together with friends or spend time with family. The section through Kirkcaldy and Dysart is particularly special, with the harbour master’s house in Dysart, which is famous to many as a filming location, serving as a focal point for visitors and showing how walking routes can support heritage as well as the local economy.
We cannot take the Fife coastal path for granted. Parts of the route face increasing challenges from coastal erosion and extreme weather events and the very coastline that makes the path so beautiful also makes it vulnerable. Maintaining and adapting sections of the route will require on-going investment, expertise and long-term planning if future generations are to enjoy it as we do today. That is why I believe that the call in the motion for a dedicated Scottish path fund is so important.
As we celebrate Walking Scotland’s milestone anniversary, we also celebrate the volunteers, community groups and local champions who make active travel possible and work to make us a healthier and greener Scotland.
I call the minister to respond to the debate on behalf of the Scottish Government.
18:17
I sincerely thank all members who have contributed to the debate and thank Paul McLennan for bringing the motion. I especially thank Arianne Burgess for mentioning Assynt. The power of that landscape, which is so close to my heart, is commemorated on the very wall of this Parliament building in the poem “A Man in Assynt” by Norman MacCaig. I often stop to read that snatch of poetry on the wall, I think because I feel such a connection with the land where I grew up. I want everyone to get out, explore Scotland and feel that connection with the land.
This debate has shown that everyone here recognises the important contribution that Walking Scotland has made over the past 30 years by supporting people to walk and wheel more. Walking and wheeling, as Mr McLennan said, are the most accessible ways for people to be more active for their physical and mental health, but also help to tackle our climate and nature emergencies, increase social interactions and improve connectedness in communities.
The Scottish Government funds Walking Scotland to deliver a wide range of initiatives that help us with all those outcomes, working in schools and communities across the whole country. In particular, I highlight the health walk network, which does so much to help those facing health challenges to be more active, socialise and connect with others.
Walking Scotland also leads the way in promoting the benefits of walking and wheeling to the public. May was national walking month and Walking Scotland delivered a wide-reaching campaign to encourage people to walk and wheel more. Advertising across TV, radio, in supermarkets, on buses and on social media reached almost 4 million people and generated more than 11 million views across all channels.
Walking Scotland also delivers the popular step count challenge programme. This spring’s national step count challenge saw nearly two and a half thousand people taking part, with more than 1 million steps walked.
I assure members, including Mr Kerr, that all those initiatives have had an impact. In 2014, 64 per cent of adults reported that they were walking for recreational purposes, and that figure rose steadily to 71 per cent in 2023. Encouragingly, that rise has been particularly marked among older adults, among whom participation increased from 52 per cent in 2014 to 60 per cent in 2023. There has also been a rise in rates of recreational walking among disabled adults, from 41 per cent in 2014 to 50 per cent in 2023.
Walking Scotland played an important role in this year’s summer of sport programme, developing a free step count challenge programme over the summer and engaging directly with people attending major sporting events. The work of Walking Scotland and other organisations such as Ramblers Scotland makes a huge difference, but we are very much aware that many people still face barriers. Removing those barriers is not something that the Scottish Government can achieve on its own. As always, effective collaboration, particularly with local authorities, is essential.
There are a number of pots of funding that specifically target people who are marginalised in our community to encourage them to get walking. We recognise the power of walking groups to help people to integrate into our community, to feel like they belong in Scotland and to fall in love with our country, in the way that we have fallen in love with our country—as I described with reference to Assynt.
We know that improving the infrastructure that supports walking and wheeling is vital. By developing and managing attractive, safe, well-designed places and signed routes close to where people live and work, we can encourage people to use them on a regular basis for health, recreation, sport and active travel. Our national planning framework has been an important tool in embedding that approach in practice at a local level. However, it is not just about urban planning. We are fortunate, in Scotland, to have a unique natural environment, which is a real asset to the health of the nation.
Our access legislation has provided a right of responsible access to most land and inland water since 2003, and we are committed to effectively promoting and supporting our paths, parks and reserves to ensure that more people are encouraged to enjoy the outdoors.
In relation to paths, I note Mr McLennan’s reference to a new national paths fund. I can confirm that my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs has asked her officials to undertake scoping work on the establishment of a Scottish paths fund. That work is in its early stages.
There are also clear links to our transport strategies. Our aim is to reduce car usage by 2030, such that walking, wheeling and cycling are the natural choice for shorter everyday trips. We have significantly increased investment in active travel in recent years, providing funding directly to local authorities to deliver infrastructure that supports healthier communities, enhances wellbeing and makes walking, wheeling and cycling more accessible.
We need to continue to support behaviour change. That starts at the earliest age, building the habit of walking into daily life, in particular in schools. Walking Scotland is pursuing some innovative work in schools to promote walking and wheeling. That work is still at an early stage of development, but initial results show an encouraging impact, particularly among teenage girls.
We all know that health and social care professionals can play a key role in supporting people to walk more, building on non-clinical interventions and treatment pathways. Public Health Scotland is redeveloping the national physical activity pathway to support those connections.
At a national level, we are building the benefits of walking into our communications campaigns. For example, our mind to mind campaign features videos of people talking about how they have coped with mental health challenges. A common thread is the importance of walking in helping people with those issues. We link those videos to the resources that are available to provide support, through Walking Scotland and others.
I note Mr McLennan’s reference to a new national walking framework. I am aware that Walking Scotland and other partners have provided us with their thoughts on what that should look like. I am happy to consider publishing a new framework, but I want to be absolutely sure that the actions that we commit to are deliverable. Any actions in a new framework will span both local and national delivery across a range of ministerial portfolios. Work is ongoing to ensure that we have a clear and realistic plan that will result in real and meaningful change. I am happy to update Parliament on progress at a future date.
Today is a milestone for Walking Scotland. Its work over the past 30 years has helped us to move towards our ambition to make Scotland a place where walking and wheeling are firmly embedded in all our daily lives. I thank Walking Scotland for that.
Meeting closed at 18:25.
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