Walkers on the English coast

The right to walk and climb along the whole length of England’s coast came a step closer today with the announcement in the Queen’s Speech that a Marine Bill will be introduced in this parliamentary session.

Among 13 new pieces of legislation announced at today’s opening of Parliament was the Marine and Coastal Access Bill.

The Queen said at today’s state opening: “My Government will bring forward measures to protect the environment for future generations. A Bill will be introduced to manage marine resources and to create a new right of public access to the coastline.”

The aim is to create an access corridor along the length of the coastline. But fragile coastal habitats such as estuaries, salt-marsh and bird sanctuaries will excluded from the proposed route. Dunes, beaches, cliffs and rocks will be opened up for walking and other recreation.

The British Mountaineering Council welcomed the bill’s inclusion in the legislative timetable.

A spokesperson said: “This new piece of legislation outlines changes for managing and conserving the marine environment and importantly outlines a new right of access to our coast.

“The BMC has campaigned hard over the past two years for the public to have the right of permanent access to our coastline. Currently, there is a lack of clarity and consistency in access arrangements along the coast of England and Wales.

“There are many areas that remain inaccessible where public rights of way have been eroded resulting in an incomplete coastal experience. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill will now place a duty on the Secretary of State and Natural England to secure a long distance route and a margin of land available for open-air recreation, accessible to the public around the coast of England.

“It is proposed that this margin will include an area of land from the coast inland to an appropriate physical boundary. This means cliffs, beaches, rocks and dunes will be accessible for the purposes of open air recreation on foot.

“The BMC will continue to campaign for the smooth passage of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill through Parliament and will be in close contact with Natural England as details of how wider access to the coast will work are unveiled.”

Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Ramblers’ Association, said: “We are enormously pleased that access to the English coast is now within reach and congratulate the Government on its brave vision.

“Improving access to our coast and beaches will deliver huge benefits. Safe passage of this legislation is essential to ensure that this generation can for the first time walk around the coast without hindrance.”

The Country Land & Business Association, which represents landowners, expressed its concerns. The association’s president, Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said: “Our concerns over the coastal access proposals in the Marine Bill in the Queen’s Speech centre on the failure to recognise the rights of individuals who will be affected by these proposals.

“This is exemplified by the lack of an independent right of appeal over the route of the corridor and the failure to compensate businesses where loss is shown.

“It is disappointing that the Government has failed to take account of the views of two of its own committees, the Joint Committee and the [Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] Committee, in setting out the coastal access provisions in the Marine Bill.

“Despite the committees recognising that it is only fair that there should be provision for compensation where loss occurs and an independent right of appeal, government has chosen to ride roughshod over the rights of the individual in its proposals for creating a new coastal trail.”

The bill is expected to become law early next year.

Access to Scotland’s coastline is already guaranteed under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act and a path the length of Wales’s coast is planned by the Welsh Assembly Government.