Landmark law opens up English coast
Hundreds of miles of inaccessible and out-of-bounds coastline are set to be permanently opened up to the public for the first time under the new Marine and Coastal Access Act.
The historic legislation, which received Royal Assent on 12 November, will create a continuous coastal path around England, allowing the public the right to walk the country’s entire coastline. Currently, almost half of England’s shores have no public right of way. It follows decades of campaigning by the Ramblers, whose Chief Executive Tom Franklin hailed the Act as “a victory for everyone who walks in this island nation”.
“The Marine and Coastal Access Act will enshrine a very simple principle on the statute books — that everyone, no matter who they are, where they come from or how much money they have, has the right to visit all parts of the coast which is so much a part of our heritage, ” he said. “The Government deserves congratulations for having introduced the bill, based on Natural England’s research. What is needed now is a continued commitment to deliver access on the ground so people have a chance to enjoy the coast.”
The Ramblers’ coastal-access campaign will now focus on making the secondary legislation needed to turn the act into reality, working with its strong national workforce of volunteers to help Natural England create a National Trail that will be the envy of the world.
Read more about the plans for a new coastal path in our extended feature in the winter 2009 issue of walk, or an excerpt here.
- This entry was posted on: Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 am
- Filed under: News, Walk Winter 2009
- Tags: access, coastal walks, conservation, Marine and Coastal Access Bill
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