Welcome for coastal access plan

11 April 2007

Ramblers have welcomed environment secretary David Miliband’s intention to press ahead with proposals to provide public access to England’s 4,000km coastline, but warned against charging local authorities with delivery.
Miliband said, over the Easter weekend, the coastline was ‘a national treasure’, and that he wanted to create ‘an access corridor so people could walk the entire length of the English coast’. This follows advice from Natural England that a 10-year, £50M programme would be required, supported by new legal powers.
A consultation paper is to be unveiled this summer, setting out proposals for Natural England to draw up a legally-binding coastal access corridor, with the exact alignment to be determined locally.
The Ramblers’ Association welcomed Miliband’s intention to press ahead with the plan, but expressed concerns over Natural England’s recommendation that local access authorities should be charged with delivery, where they wanted to take on the work.
Kate Conto, the Ramblers Association’s head of freedom to roam, welcomed the statement, particularly Miliband’s acceptance of the concept of creating a non-mapped access corridor, allowing paths to be moved inland when the coast eroded. But, she said: ‘Right now, if a coastal path falls into the sea, it’s not repaired in most cases. We want Natural England to step in and act where local authorities don’t want to, or take too long to implement improvements. This is a very popular policy Miliband has introduced, but it will create high expectations. The public will want to see changes on the ground, and quickly.’
The 70% of coast currently open to the public is often difficult or impossible to use because of missing or decayed steps or bridges, and is often in small, unlinked sections of path, according to Natural England’s assessment.
But John Riby, lead officer for the Local Government Association’s coastal special interest group, said that, while it was true erosion had affected paths, ‘we have to go through a statutory process to provide alternatives, and it’s not quick’.
Miliband’s proposals were ‘a great idea’, and many local authorities were likely to want to implement them.
But they would worry about providing access where this was dangerous, where cliffs were being undermined, for example.
Councils would also want to be satisfied that sufficient funding was made available to deliver the desired improvements.

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