Snooty hotels hate new law.

Thousands of property owners in England and Wales will be contacted by UK Government officials from Natural England over the next few weeks to negotiate details of a 10 metre wide public corridor around the entire UK coastline. This includes the Royal family whose Sandringham estate in Norfolk still bars walkers from several miles of picturesque seashore.

Off-Grid welcomes this move to free the historic 9040 miles of coastline which, in the words of Environment Secretary David Miliband yesterday, “tackles the unfinished business of opening Britain’s land to the people”

Consultation

Access and wildlife groups will be asked to help reach agreements on complicated stretches of land, including headlands and cliff-encircled coves the government is determined to bring within the scheme.

Mr Miliband said: “The success of the ‘right to roam’ on open countryside has shown that people are responsible about increased access and want to enjoy it in a mature way. That greatly encourages us to press ahead with opening up the coast.”

Although Scotland has a well-established corridor, which is used as a model for the new scheme, 30% of England’s 2,500 miles of coast is still private. A recent survey commissioned by the Ramblers’ Association found that 94% of people wanted a legal right of access to the coast.

Sensitive sites

The consultation will cover route width, which is unlikely to exceed 10 metres, and exemptions for sensitive wildlife sites, although the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs wants to limit diversions as far as possible.

Measures to allow the path to gradually move inland on eroding cliffs are also up for debate, along with waymarking.

Mr Miliband said compensation for loss of property value, which has been the main issue for objectors, was not considered likely to be a major concern.

“We are not talking about people having to face crowds walking over their lawns,” he said.

“Compensation has scarcely arisen as an issue under the right to roam, which has seen very few attempts to get redress.”

He added: “People want access to the coast because they love it, not because they want to damage it.

“Walkers along parts of the coast which have previously been barred are more likely to pick up litter than to leave it.”

Costly and long-term

Establishing a complete path around the shoreline is expected to cost �50m and take 10 years to build.

Mr Miliband added that the corridor would pass through many urban areas that were as fascinating in their way as wild seacliffs.

“My personal determination to press ahead has been sealed by the inspiration I get from one example – walking along the beach at my South Shields constituency,” he said.

Tourist hotspots

Damian Cleghorn, public policy officer at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), warned that careful thought was needed before the policy was implemented.

“A corridor of public access could have a damaging impact on sensitive environmental areas, creating ‘tourist hotspots’ which threaten the biodiversity of the coast line,” he said.

“In order to make any new proposals a success, landowners must be involved in any discussions relating to the fixing of a route.

“Consideration needs to be given to better enforcement of legislation that is already in place, rather than introducing yet more legislation which may just serve to further confuse land managers and the public”.

However, the chair of Natural England, Sir Martin Doughty, said he thought new legislation was needed to ensure people were able to enjoy the coastline “with confidence and certainty”.

He said Natural England would be “looking to achieve significant environmental improvement around the coast, building on the excellent work to date of Environmental Stewardship and its predecessor schemes.

“We are particularly interested in rolling back the line of intensive agriculture from the cliff edge over time.”

The public consultation is calling for views on the following options:

� Using existing rights of way legislation to create a footpath all round the coast.
� Extending open access using the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to give access to types of land that are considered coastal, for example beach, dunes and cliffs.
� Reaching voluntary agreements with landowners using existing mechanisms such as those for agri-environment schemes.
� Introducing new legislation to allow Natural England to designate a coastal corridor.

Resistance

Members of the Country Landowners Association are planning a strong rearguard campaign to slow down or stop the reform in the hope a change of government will reverse it, and conservationists are looking to opposition leader David Cameron to make the Conservative Party’s position clear.

The consultation will close in September.

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