“We pay council tax for this!”

Powys County Council’s plea for help from a volunteer army to help them sort their extensive right of way network was met with a lukewarm response from Welshpool Town Council last night.

The regional authority is struggling with its budget to find the sufficient finances to stay on top of its hundreds of miles of walking paths, and is holding a meeting in the town next month to gauge interest in a Rights of Way Volunteer Programme.

But Cllr Nick Howells was the first to respond, saying: “Again, this is Powys County Council’s duty. We pay council tax for this stuff, and I know that if they get this initiative running, they will pay a member of staff a substantial salary to co-ordinate this project. Whereas they should be doing it themselves.”

Cllr Alison Davies said that previous attempts to set up such an entity had not worked.

She said: “They did this a few years ago when my husband volunteered and it was incredibly badly organised. It was really poor. Their staff have got to get themselves organised so that it works properly, then we can get the volunteers to work with them.”

But she also highlighted that Montgomery had “an excellent footpaths group who work really well” in co-ordination with the council.

Cllr Bill Rowell, a self-confessed “eternal optimist” said that he hoped the council just wanted residents to be their eyes and ears to work with them to report on issues which the council then acts upon.

“Footpaths are a huge asset to the town both in terms of local recreation and visitors so it is certainly worth our while meeting with them,” he said.

Welshpool County Councillor, Richard Church, said there was a “massive backlog” in footpath maintenance that would take 30 years to clear.

“Anything we can do to get volunteer support for it would be good news,” he said.

Councillors agreed to send two representatives to the meeting on July 14 in the Town Hall that will discuss a way forward.