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Sea change ahead for right to walk the British coast
Why can't we walk where we like at the seaside? Roger Ratcliffe reports on moves to create a 2,500-mile public footpath all the way around the British coastline.
ON the Ordnance Survey map it looks like the perfect place to enjoy a stroll along one of the remotest stretches of shoreline in Yorkshire, if not England.
Out here, there is absolutely nothing else but mile after mile of sea, sand and . . . No Entry signs.
Try reaching the sea from the tiny hamlet of Grimston on the Holderness coast and you will come to a halt at a metal gate showing a notice that depicts a walker struck through with a red line. The way ahead is barred, despite the map showing a legal right of public access almost to the clifftop.
But even if you were to get within view of the beach, there is no clifftop path that will allow walkers to explore the miles of deserted coast extending in either direction. This is one of the longest sections of inaccessible shoreline in England.
That may soon change, however. According to the government's countryside advisors, Natural England, for an island nation like Britain it should be a basic human right to have access to virtually every inch of coast. The idea is that anyone should be able to go to the coast, turn left or right and be able to walk on a continuous footpath as far as they wish.
As one Natural England spokesman put it: "People want that certainty. Our research shows that 30 per cent of the coast has no access, and those parts that do have it contain gaps which prevent a continuous journey. Walking is the single most popular activity along the coast, and people want to be able to do it without bumping into an anguished farmer or landowner."
And so new legislation to create a footpath round the whole 2,500-mile coastline of England will be featured in the Queen's Speech later this year. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill will extend the principle of open access over large areas of England's uncultivated fells and moors which came into effect a few years ago under the Countryside and Rights of
Way Act.
In Yorkshire there are around 100 miles of coastline, and the new law would have its greatest impact between Bridlington and Spurn Point.
The northern stretch of seaside extending from the Cleveland-Yorkshire border down to the resort of Filey already has a continuous public footpath, thanks to the Cleveland Way National Trail. Of its 110-mile route around the North York Moors, established in 1969 as Britain's second long-distance path following the success of the Pennine Way, almost 40 miles are on the coast.
To the south of Filey, however, the right of access to the coast is broken in numerous places. An initial survey by Natural England found there were 18 such gaps. For example, a former holiday camp which is now fenced off blocks the way from Filey to the six miles of chalk headlands at Bempton – an RSPB Reserve with a public right of way along the clifftops – and Flamborough.
But it is south of Bridlington that Natural England believes it would have to create the most new footpaths on the Yorkshire coast. The East Riding's Holderness shoreline has, at best, only intermittent public access and one of its unwalkable stretches extends for more than 12 continuous miles.
Further difficulties are created by several caravan parks which extend along the clifftops, and two major North Sea gas installations.
But the biggest challenge provided by the Holderness Coast to the idea of a footpath around the whole of England is that this is one of the fastest-eroding shores in Europe. Any new footpath in Holderness would be a case of now you see it, now you don't.
That will not mean that the public right of access is washed away, according to Natural England. The right will simply "roll back" from the clifftop to the best, and the safest, available route.
In many places the path won't be simply a narrow ribbon. No uniform width will be applied to the proposed coastal access corridor, and Natural England says it will be tailored to meet local circumstances and only decided after consultation with local interested parties. In some place it would be about 12ft wide, and in areas which are away from uncultivated land there will be a legal right to spread off the path for activities like kite-flying and frisbee-throwing.
At the moment the details of the Bill have been published for scrutiny by Parliament, and in a year's time Natural England hopes to start negotiating the path's route with farmers and landowners.
If it becomes law, and no one believes it will fail, the route won't be established on the English coast overnight. More likely, it will be phased in area-by-area over a period of ten years.
Then the race will be on to be the first person ever to walk the Yorkshire Coast.LIVING ON THE EDGE – Some views from the Yorkshire coastline
Tony Leake, of Thorpe Garth Farm, Aldbrough. His fields extend for a mile along the shore.
"A right of way all round of the coast of England may seem like a nice idea but, I'm sorry, the one-cap-fits-all principle can't be applied here. On this coastline it would be just plain dangerous.
"These cliffs are eroding at an average rate of two metres a year, and in one season fifteen metres slid down without any
warning. The crevices often start in long grass and are hard to see, especially in poor light or inclement weather, and anyone having an accident could well be six or eight miles from the nearest farmstead.
"There's also an old bombing range along the beach, and with all
these new visitors being attracted by a continuous footpath there's a risk that someone will eventually pick up a live shell."
"I think it would be irresponsible – if not stupid – to encourage walkers to come here."
Sally Loving, manager, Longbeach Leisure Park, Hornsea. She has lost over 30 bases for static caravans because of coastal erosion.
"This grand scheme of Access All Areas by Natural England does not appear to consider individual needs. My customers would not be happy with a right of way being forced through the plot on which their holiday home is sited.
"Who would be liable for ramblers who trip or fall on my park on their way through? Health and Safety issues are already a nightmare to implement in this litigious society, and I don't need the added headache of random strangers being able to wander through my park at will.
"The new footpath would need to be constantly remade here, because of the crumbling cliffs. Our frontage is lessening all the time, as can be seen by the empty bases, so the footpath would keep moving back through my park. It all adds up to a total nightmare. They just haven't thought it through."
Peter Ayling, East Riding and Derwent Ramblers' Association. He leads parties of walkers, sometimes on the Yorkshire coast.
"I think a continuous footpath on the coast is a natural extension of the open access principle, which seems to have worked well in inland areas. England has relatively poor coastal access compared with Sweden, Denmark and Scotland.
"In effect, I should think most people would still go to do their walking at places like Flamborough, Bempton, or the Cleveland Way coastal stretches, but there will doubtless be many who'll be attracted by the Holderness coast. It's lovely on a fine spring or autumn day, and if the bill became law tomorrow I'd want to get some routes there onto our programme of walks.
"There's bound to be people who will wish to do long-distance routes by the sea. I'm sure that a Yorkshire Coastal Path of 100 miles or so would be a big challenge for walkers. If there were any gaps in the route it would spoil the whole concept."
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Friday 25 May 2012
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