Let's make Coast to Coast walk a National Trail says MP

Hikers from across the world have trodden the 190-mile Coast to Coast route documented by pioneering fell walker and author Alfred Wainwright, a spectacular route that cuts a path between Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire to St Bees Head in Cumbria.

However, it is a notable omission from the 15 routes in England and Wales that are given special status by Natural England.

The popular route crosses the constituency of Rishi Sunak, the Tory MP for Richmond, and he is leading a bid that he hopes will see the path granted special designation, and secure the annual funding that would come with it.

Mr Sunak, who launched his campaign yesterday at a reception in Reeth featuring businesses owners from along the route, said: “It’s genuinely one of the most popular long-distance walks in the UK. It deserves that recognition. It has huge appeal and is very important to businesses in my constituency.”

If the route is granted National Trail status, Natural England funding would be given to a partnership of local authorities annually to ensure it is maintained and marketed. The cash would come in useful given the reduced funding due to government cutbacks and the resources local authorities have left to maintain public rights of way.

It is 43 years since Wainwright devised the route and since then it has become a victim of its own success, with some stretches in need of repair.

One of the areas that requires most attention is at Nine Standards Rigg, in Cumbria, above Kirkby Stephen. The ground has become so bad that mountain rescue teams have had to be called out to free walkers who have got stuck up to their waist in boggy peat.

A separate crowdfunding campaign was launched last month to raise £56,000 for repairs to the route in Upper Swaledale and Cumbria.

The initiative is being backed by Sheffield-born TV presenter and walking enthusiast Julia Bradbury and Yorkshire shepherdess and star of ITV’s The Dales, Amanda Owen.

Eric Robson is the chairman of The Wainwright Society, the custodians of Wainwright’s legacy, and the organisation is supporting Mr Sunak’s campaign to have the route listed as a National Trail.

Mr Robson said: “I wholeheartedly support Rishi Sunak’s attempt. This is one of the great walks, probably the best known walk in the UK that isn’t a National Trail.”

Mr Robson, chairman of tourist board Cumbria Tourism, added: “As a National Trail it would be kept in tip-top condition. And the additional publicity of National Trail status would bring huge additional economic benefit to the area.”

Mr Sunak said he recognised that winning backing for the route will not be a quick victory. Natural England is dedicating significant resources to opening up an England Coast Path, a new National Trail around the England’s coastline. That work is not due to be finished until 2020, but Mr Sunak hopes to gain support for his plan so that it becomes the government agency’s next priority.

He said: “Part one is about building strong local support and then the second stage will be to try and convince people in power to commission a scoping study to examine the route and detail if it will work.”