Lord calls for sea change for coast
[30 March 2007]
Lord Smith of Finsbury will call for a coastal access corridor to be implemented in statute, in his keynote address to the Ramblers’ Association’s (RA) Annual General Meeting in Reading tomorrow ( Saturday March 31).
Lord Smith is president of the Ramblers’ Association, who are the driving force behind a campaign to open up the coast for the public to enjoy.
Natural England – the government’s advisory body on biodiversity, recreation and wildlife – presented wide-ranging proposals to DEFRA at its February board meeting. The next step is a public consultation that will last twelve weeks.
At the heart of Natural England’s recommendations is a coastal corridor that will enable the public to walk continuously all the way around the coast, an impossible feat at present. Now access is patchy at best and many walking routes are diverted inland, either because of coastal erosion or development.
Lord Smith, president of the RA, said: “The ability for everyone, no matter who or what they are, to walk along and around the coast really does need statutory protection. Some areas of the coastline at the moment are unnecessarily closed off. There are places where paths simply come to a juddering halt in front of a barbed-wire fence. There is even the absurdity that you have a legal right to cross some areas of beach in a boat when the tide is in, but not on foot when the tide is out. A legal right of access to a coastal corridor has to be the sensible answer”.
Lord Smith will also seek an assurance from government that Natural England will be involved in the process of delivering the coastal access, as access provisions will be inadequate if left to local authorities to implement.
The RA is calling for measures to protect wildlife, privacy, and enhance landscapes and biodiversity. New grant schemes should improve the management of coastal access land and increase the benefits for wildlife, landowners and the public.