Natural England - All England Coast Path will be landmark moment for countryside access
All England Coast Path will be landmark moment for countryside access
12 November 2009
Following today’s Royal Assent for the Marine and Coastal Access Act, Natural England has heralded the legislation as marking a landmark moment in the history of countryside access.
Poul Christensen, Acting Chair of Natural England, said “This country has one of the finest coastlines in the world but access to it is currently a lottery, with many sections lacking a secure, satisfactory path. The Marine and Coastal Access Act represents a giant step towards sorting out, once and for all, the piecemeal, stop-go nature of coastal access.”
Natural England’s coastal access audit has confirmed that a third of England’s coastline does not currently have a safe and secure path around it – with these sections regularly alternating with the sections where such a path does exist. The new Act will create significant opportunities to develop new coastal routes, secure routes that are currently available only on a permissive basis, and replace the 13% of existing coastal paths that are expected to be lost to coastal erosion in the next 20 years.
Following Royal Assent for the Act, Natural England will launch a 12-week public consultation on the “Scheme” that will guide its work. Once the detailed approach of the Scheme has been approved by the Secretary of State, Natural England will look to focus its initial work in the following areas:
Weymouth – where the first section, the ‘Olympic Way’, will open in 2012
Kent
Somerset
Norfolk
Cumbria
East Riding, Yorkshire
Poul Christensen continued, “We are going to work very closely with local access authorities in implementing the improved access on the ground – consulting widely with individuals, communities, businesses and other key local interests to help us get the coastal route in the right place and address any concerns about impacts on other land uses. This painstaking work may take years to complete, but the prize of agreeing, wherever possible, how coastal access can best be extended is a worthwhile one”.
Poul Christensen, concluded: “The new Act presents a unique opportunity to create a permanent and secure walking route around England’s magnificent coast. This exciting programme will bring economic benefit to coastal regions, end the haphazard tangle of current coastal access, and for the first time ever, provide a solution to the age-old problem of coastal footpaths being lost to erosion.”
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Notes to Editors:
Details of the consultation on Natural England’s “Scheme” that will guide its work will be made available on our consultations page.
Copies of Natural England’s Coastal Access audit can be found on our England's coast path page
Walking is already the most popular activity around the coast but Natural England’s national access audit, published in July 2009, concluded that the average section of coast has less than two miles of secure, satisfactory path. There is a complex patchwork of existing rights, traditions, short-term permissions and sections where the public simply cannot get through at all. Even the best-known stretches such as the iconic South West Coast Path have sections that pass along dangerous roads, and others that require major inland diversions. Elsewhere, even familiar access routes are often available on a permissive basis only and are not legally secured. Loss of paths to coastal erosion is another familiar problem that often proves difficult to resolve. Without this legislation, another 13% of existing coast paths would be lost in this way over the next 20 years.
Once enacted the new legislation would enable Natural England to develop a continuous path around the whole of England’s open coast – keeping as close to the sea as practicable, and building in unprecedented automatic rollback of the path on eroding sections of coast. There will be close local consultation including ‘walking the course’ with affected occupiers, with a view to agreeing wherever possible the line the coastal route should take and minimising any impact on privacy and businesses.
There will also be scope to improve coastal access for others such as horse riders and cyclists, and to improve access around estuaries, where doing so would deliver real public benefit and strike a fair balance with other land uses.
Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, announced in September that the first stretch of the new all-England Coast Path will open in 2012 at Weymouth, home of the Olympic sailing events, in time for the lighting of the Olympic flame.
Natural England has estimated that national implementation of the new rights will take ten years and cost £50 million.
About Natural England
Natural England is the government’s independent advisor on the natural environment. Established in 2006 our work is focused on enhancing England’s wildlife and landscapes and maximising the benefits they bring to the public
We establish and care for England’s main wildlife sites, ensuring that over 3,500 National Nature Reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest are looked after and improved.
We work to ensure that England’s landscapes are effectively protected, designating England’s National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and Marine Conservation Zones, and advising widely on their conservation.
We run England’s Environmental Stewardship green farming schemes that deliver over £400 million a year to farmers and landowners, enabling them to enhance the natural environment across two thirds of England’s farmland.
We fund, manage, and provide scientific expertise for hundreds of conservation projects each year, improving the prospects for thousands of England’s species and habitats. We have recently committed £6m to develop wetland areas and have detailed biodiversity action plans covering 75% of England’s species
- We promote access to the wider countryside, helping establish National Trails and coastal trails and ensuring that the public can enjoy and benefit from them.
For further information contact: The National Press Office on 0845 603 9953, press@naturalengland.org.uk out of hours 07970 098005. For further information about Natural England please visit: www.naturalengland.org.uk