Rights-of-way experts have urged the Government not to be diverted from their plans to create a coastal path round England.
Access to England's coast must go ahead
A committee of MPs last week called for a rethink on the plans, which follow the Labour party’s commitment to opening up access to England’s coast which were first mooted in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in 2000. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee complained landowners and occupiers of coastal properties had too little protection as the Marine Bill, which contains the proposals, currently stands.
MPs on the committee said Natural England, the government's conservation agency charged with drawing up the plans, should be given powers to award compensation to owners who say they will lose out financially.
The Institute of Public Rights of Way Management (IPROW), which represents local-government officers and others involved in managing footpaths and other rights of way, said the £5bn scheme must go ahead.
IPROW President Alan Ibbotson said: “The key now is not to let this great opportunity for coastal access be wasted. The time is right to address this glaring gap in public access.
“Our members are engaged in resolving public access issues right across the country. We recognise the need to work with property owners, expecting very limited liabilities for them in a similar way to those involved with open access land.
“Skilful negotiation by professionals need not imply compensation costs as packages of mutual benefits can be found by working together.”
IPROW has also been involved in trying to sort out the mess created with the abandonment of the Discovering Lost Ways scheme, which failed miserably to lead to the recording of footpaths believed to have been left off definitive maps.
Guest
29 July 2008The trouble is that "this great opportunity for coastal acces will be totally abused. I speak as a Cornish coastal-based business owner. We are so encouraging to normal walkers that we close off our beach access area one ay a year and charge a penny on that day for walkers, and we even have a member of our works staff doinmg cover that day with a bag of penies in case visitors don't have legal tender. We do ALL we can to encourage bona fide walkers. BUT - come the summer months and warn weekend evenings, our area is dominated by groups of hard-drinking, hard-vomiting fools who intimidate our regular customers and who leave a rich surface-scatter of used condoms, syringes and plastic drink bottles on our beach.The polioce can't deal with these, so they say; we already have to employ 2 full-time policemen on Polzeath beach, at public expense, well before we look at the cover the Natural England's new proposals might generate. Frankly, it's not policeable in anyone's budget; it will decimate the profits of those who work to run hoiday parks in the area, and it will radically damage the coastal wildlife along the proposed access corridor. So, where is the good news?
Guest
30 July 2008Responsible ramblers aren't the big problem, but the party animals may follow in their tracks, using some of the new "spreading room" for their antics. Some silly drunks might fall off clifftops previously out of bounds. It wouldn't affect the entire coast though, so problems in some areas shouldn't stop the main plan.
Guest
01 August 2008Once they have taken the relatively modest spreading room and private beaches from the moaning landowners, hopefully without any compensation, will the ramblers association campaign for responsible access by all walkers and party goers?