Footpath degradation of the Malvern Hills - Malvern Hills Conservators

Stephen Britnell
Footpath degradation of the Malvern Hills
5.2.5 Path angle and erosional processes
Most processes develop on paths running parallel to the slope, and perpendicular to
the slope, although the majority (68%) are found on the lowest slope angles ( 0 to 10
degrees). Braiding is primarily confined to paths running parallel to the slope, cutting up
vertically through the contours of the hillside. This is because the path sides are generally flat,
so unrestricting the spread of people across the slope allowing multiple paths to form. Gullys
ad pigeonholes are also primarily found at low path angles. This is because low path angles
ascend the fall line of the slope, so easily become channels for water making them
susceptible to erosion (Leung et al. 1996). The presence of these ersoional features at low
path angles corresponds with the theory that highest erosion occurs at low path angles. The
presence of these features on paths that follow the contours more closely can be explained
by the fact that other variables such as slope angle, soil structure, and recreational pressure
affects their formation.
5.3 Conclusions and Further recommendations
Footpath degradation is affected by a combination of the discussed variables. User
intensity and slope angle are the most important variables affecting path morphology, with
path angle, user type and soil structure contributing to a lesser degree. In future studies
variables such as vegetation type, flow patterns of water, rainfall intensity, and the user
intensity across the path should be investigated to give a clearer understanding into the
problems and causal factors on path degradation.
Management schemes for footpath protection on the Malvern Hills need to be revised
and modified to take into account the affects the recreational and environmental variables
have on path degradation, and to protect the areas of paths highlighted by Figure 8 that are
highly eroded. Footpath sections with a grade of 1 must be immediately visited and remedial
measures taken to protect the path, grade 2 sections should be revisited yearly, and grade 3
sections are stable so should be monitored on a four yearly basis.
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