BACKGROUND
INFORMATION on COASTAL ACCESS |
| NO
LEGAL ACCESS
A recent poll commissioned by the
RA highlighted the fact that the vast majority of people
believe the public should and do have
a legal right to walk along the coast. Contrary to the public
view, there is no general legal
right to walk in coastal areas - including beaches and foreshore
- in England and Wales.
The public do
have access to many coastal areas in England,
but this access is often uncertain
and not based on clear legal rights.
Where there is access to the coast, it is currently provided
by a range of mechanisms including public rights of way, permissive
paths, de-facto arrangements, local informal agreements, agri-environment
schemes, and land mapped as access land under the Countryside
and Rights of Way Act 2000. Some access will be legally secure,
but where access is permissive it may by definition be taken away;
we know of places where access has been withdrawn, causing local
outrage.
The lack of
clarity and consistency about access arrangements is compounded
by the fact that some areas are simply inaccessible. For example,
we know of many areas where, due to erosion, public rights of
way have been lost to the sea and have still not been replaced
decades later. There are also a number of private beaches; cliff
tops, sand dunes and marshes with no access arrangements and coastal
paths which detour far inland. Furthermore, there is currently
no route for walkers all the way around the coast of England -
which as citizens of an island nation- is something the public
might feel entitled to. |
| THE
RAMBLERS' ASSOCIATION CAMPAIGN
The Ramblers’ Association
is calling for an extension of the
CRoW Act to cover coastal areas, including beaches,
foreshore and cliffs. It believes that the public should have
a legal right of access to walk along the coast of England, subject
to common sense safeguards to protect wildlife, habitats and to
take account of coastal developments.
The new right of access should be set out in a new, sensible,
well promoted coastal walking code of practice with a legal right
of access defined by words and not by maps. This non-mapping
approach, already adopted by countries such Scotland,
France, Portugal, and Denmark, would allow the public to make
an informed choice, with reasonable expectations, about where
they can walk along the coast. This is simpler, less bureaucratic,
faster to implement, inexpensive and more flexible (it could take
account of erosion) than a mapping approach |
HOW YOU CAN HELP THE
CAMPAIGN
Write
(as an individual) to your MP,
expressing your support for a right of access to coastal land
and saying why you want it. Ask your MP to write on your behalf
to Barry Gardiner MP, Minister for Biodiversity, Landscape and
Rural Affairs, calling for a right of access to the coast. MPs
may be reached at the House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.
Write
(as an individual) to the Rt. Hon David Miliband MP,
Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and
Rural Affairs, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square SW1P 3JR or e-mail
ccu.correspondence@defra.gsi.gov.uk, expressing your support for
a right of access to coastal land and saying why you want it.
Encourage as many
people as possible
in your Area to write as well.
We can help you by providing flyers to go into local mailings
or to hand out on walks. Contact the freedom to roam team for
more information.
Organise local media
events to highlight why access to the coast needs to be improved.
For example, take a journalist on a walk to show them how inland
detours, coastal erosion, no legal means of access or permissive
access affect negatively the way people experience the coast and
how a new legal right of access to coastal areas would bring improvements
for the public.
Respond to negative media coverage.
There has already been significant media interest in the campaign
to improve access to the coast. Unfortunately there has also been
a fair amount of misleading and inaccurate coverage of the issue
in newspapers. Many of the concerns being expressed are the same
we heard when we campaigned for the CRoW Act; for example, land
values will decline, people will be put in danger, access will
harm wildlife and so on. If/when you see such coverage in your
local papers you could write to the relevant editors to express
your support for coastal access and as far as possible, to set
the record straight |
| THE CURRENT SITUATION:
HOW THE CAMPAIGN is PROGRESSING Based
on informal conversations the Ramblers' Association is confident
that the government remains committed to their manifesto commitment
to improve access to the coast. The Minister responsible for coastal
access is Barry Gardiner MP
Over the past year the Countryside
Agency (CA) has been conducting research into the options for
improving access to the coast in England. At the CA’s May
Board meeting, the Board approved, in broad terms, the CA’s
initial advice to government which said that the Countryside and
Rights of Way (CRoW) Act should be extended to provide a right
of access to the coast. The CA board is expected to consider detailed
advice at its September meeting. This advice will then go to the
board of Natural England (the new body combining the Countryside
Agency, English Nature and the Rural Development Service), which
will begin to function in October. Natural England (NE) will then
put advice froward to government on the options for improving
access to the coast.
A significant problem currently
involves the legal situation surrounding the use of the CRoW Act
to provide a right of access to the coast AND to avoid a mapping
process. The RA believes a non-mapped approach would be simpler,
less bureaucratic, faster to implement, more flexible, and far
less expensive than a mapped approach as there would be no mapping
and appeals processes. However it now appears that a descriptive
approach is not possible under the CRoW Act because mapping is
a fundamental part of that Act. Even if the public consultation
(currently scheduled for early 2007) comes out in favour of a
non-mapped approach, there is no knowing what the government's
final position will be or if it would be prepared to bring forward
new legislation to achieve a non-mapped right of access to the
coast. |
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