You are here:

Access to English Coast

Image of a coast lineOn 11 November 2009 Parliament completed its consideration of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill and on 12 November it received Royal Assent. The Act helps fulfil the Government’s 2005 election manifesto commitments to introduce a new framework for the seas based on marine spatial planning, that balances conservation, energy and resource needs, and to improve access to the English coast.  Part 9 of the Act contains provisions for improving access to the English coast.

The coastal access provisions in the Act place a duty on the Secretary of State and Natural England to secure a long distance route (“the English coastal route”) and land available for open-air recreation accessible to the public around the coast of England.  In doing so the Act amends existing legislation – namely the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

The Marine and Coastal Access Bill was introduced into Parliament on 4 December 2008 and completed its passage through the House of Lords when it received its Third Reading on 8 June 2009. It was then introduced into the House of Commons on 9 June 2009.  The Bill spent almost six months in the House of Lords with seventeen sessions of debate.  Over 1,000 amendments were debated.  The key documents page on the main Marine and Coastal Access Bill page has links to the transcripts of all Parliamentary proceedings on the Bill.

The main changes to Part 9 of the Bill following consideration by the House of Lords were:

  • Greater accountability. A duty on the Secretary of State to lay before Parliament a copy of Natural England’s scheme and any revised scheme.
  • More involvement for local authorities in developing the proposals for coastal access in their areas. Natural England’s scheme will set out the approach it will take when deciding whether it would be appropriate for an access authority to be involved in undertaking work preparatory to the preparation of a coastal report on a particular stretch of coast. An access authority will be able to enter into an agreement with Natural England to carry out some of the work involved in drawing up a coastal access report.
  • Clarification on how Natural England will deal with the coastal route around estuaries. Natural England will be required to apply a number of detailed matters to all decisions it may make as to how to treat any estuary as part of the English coast rather than just to any decision to propose the route to be located at some point between the mouth of the estuary and the first public foot crossing. These matters include eg the nature of the land; the topography of the shoreline and the recreational benefit to the public of including such land.
  • Greater say and safeguards for those who own or manage land. An objections procedure allowing a person with a relevant interest in affected land (eg an owner or leaseholder) to have an objection to Natural England’s coastal access proposals referred to an appointed person (who it is envisaged will be an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate).
  • Further clarity for landowners over the land to which the new right of access will apply. The Bill will require Natural England to include in its coastal access report a map showing the landward boundary of the relevant coastal access land where it is not able to provide a description of the boundary which is sufficient to identify the relevant coastal margin. If a map is included Natural England must also provide a copy of that map on request to a person on request with a relevant interest in the affected land.
  • Other existing rights. Ensuring that the public are informed that the right of access conferred by the Bill does not affect any other rights of access eg for horse riders that may exist in relation to that land. A separate code of conduct may also be drawn up for coastal land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000

There were no changes made to the coastal access provisions of the Bill following consideration by the House of Commons and Third Reading was completed on 27 October 2009. The Bill then returned to the House of Lords for consideration of amendments made in the Commons to the Bill as a whole. These were debated on 11 November and the Bill received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009. The text of the Act and explanatory notes will be available through the main Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 page.

We have published a paper explaining how the coastal access provisions in the Act will work. (PDF 95KB)

For coastal access, two additional information notes have also been published setting out:

The new right of access to the coast includes provision for an Order to be made to make changes to the existing provisions in the CROW Act as they will apply to coastal land (the existing provisions will remain in place for other access land).  A consultation was opened on 8 September 2009 seeking views on a number of amendments proposed to the CROW Act including a description of the land that will be included in the coastal margin; changes to the provisions for restrictions and exclusions; changes to the categories of excepted land in Schedule 1 to the Act; and changes to the general restrictions in Schedule 2 to the Act.

The closing date for responses is 1 December 2009. After analysis of the responses to the consultation an Order will be laid before each House of Parliament. The Order must be approved by each House before it can come into force.

Section 298 of the Act requires Natural England to prepare a scheme setting out the approach it will take in implementing coastal access. Natural England has published a public consultation on a full version of its draft scheme:

Once responses have been considered the scheme will be finalised and submitted to the Secretary of State for approval.

Background

The decision to legislate so that the public will have the right to walk around the English coast for the first time was made following the Consultation on Proposals to improve access to the English coast (PDF 649KB) which closed on 11 September 2007.  A report summarising the responses is available to download (PDF 544KB). The consultation followed Natural England`s report and advice to Government in February 2007: 'Improving coastal access: our advice to Government'.

An Impact Assessment setting out the estimated costs and benefits of the proposals has been published.  The Impact Assessment was developed following research (PDF 1MB) by an independent consultant.

A draft of the Bill was published on 3 April 2008. The draft Bill was scrutinised by the Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) Select Committee, and a Joint Committee, made up of members from both Houses.  The two Committee's reports were published on 22 and 30 July 2008 respectively and can be viewed on the following pages:

The Government's response to the two Committee's reports and recommendations, and its response to the public consultation were published on 25 September. The response can be viewed at

For more information on Defra and Natural England’s work, see the Frequently Asked Questions about access to the English coast.

For further enquiries please telephone 0117 372 8897 or email coastal.access@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Page last modified: 17 November 2009
Page published: 23 October 2008