Natural England - Coastal access
Coastal access
England's coastline is spectacularly beautiful, rich in wildlife and hugely popular. Its sandy beaches and cliff top routes generate 72 million trips a year to the undeveloped coast, and 174 million to seaside towns.
Current position
The passing of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 brings the nation a vital step closer to having a secure right to walk around the whole of England's open coastline.
The Act gives the Secretary of State and Natural England a duty to secure a long distance walking trail around the open coast of England, together with appropriate ‘spreading room’ en route where people will be able to explore, rest or picnic. We envisage this taking some 10 years to achieve nationally.
We will prepare a series of reports to the Secretary of State, each relating to a different stretch of the English coast. In doing this we will closely involve the local access authority and will consult extensively with local interests. Wherever possible we will ‘walk the course’ with those whose land may be affected. We will also be able to put in place any necessary restrictions on public use if this proves necessary to avoid adverse impacts on other land uses.
At present there is a consistent stop-go pattern of access rights around many parts of the coast. Our national Coastal Access Audit Report 
, published in July 2009, revealed that about a third of the English coastline has no legally secure, satisfactory path - and that these sections regularly interrupt those where such a path already exists. The audit also highlighted the crucial importance of coastal change on the coast, estimating that 13% of existing coastal paths would be lost to erosion over the next 20 years as things stand. The new Act enables Natural England to propose that paths along an eroding coast ‘roll back’ automatically as coastal change occurs. This is an unprecedented legal step, and provides the means to resolve a long-standing problem for managers of coastal access.
The Coastal Access Scheme
The Act requires us to prepare a Scheme (methodology), to be approved by the Secretary of State, setting out our approach to implementing the new rights around the coast, including how the trail will be aligned and how the new access rights will be managed. We must act in accordance with the Scheme in discharging our coastal access duty.
Following a public consultation, we have published a Scheme that has been approved by the Secretary of State for Environment Food & Rural Affairs. We have also published a Consultation Summary Report that summarises respondents’ comments and our response to the views expressed.
Next steps
Visitors to the 2012 Olympic sailing events will be the first to benefit from the new coastal access provisions, as work can now start in earnest on a 20km stretch at Weymouth. Work will start on five further stretches of the English coastline during 2011.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and further information about the Act
Our FAQs provide responses to common questions associated with our role in implementing these Coastal Access provisions. They supplement the information in Defra’s Coastal Access FAQs, which can be found at Defra's Accessing the English Coast web page together with further information about the relevant legislation, including the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.
Earlier advice to Government
Our original advice in February 2007 to Government on how best to improve access to coastal land, deliver wildlife & landscape benefits and increase people's enjoyment and understanding can be found in our Improving Coastal Access Report.
Marine issues
Information about the marine elements of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 can be found on our Marine Protected Areas page.
