Coastal Path Plan Condemned As a Waste of Money

News Release  

October 15 2010

Coastal Path Plan Condemned As a Waste of Money

Plans to start the roll out the All-England coastal path on the South West coast are an unnecessary waste of public money according to the CLA, the Country Land and Business Association.

Natural England is planning to boost access along the coastal path beside Weymouth Bay in time for the 2012 Olympics and to follow that with five new 20-mile stretches around the coast – including one between Minehead and Stert Point in Somerset.

The plan, being brought forward under the Marine and Coastal Access Act, has been condemned by the CLA as a complete waste of money because so much of the coast is already accessible.

CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: “It is extraordinary that the Natural England should be showcasing the introduction of new coastal access in Weymouth Bay when the area is already extremely well served by the acclaimed South West Coast Path and by an extensive complex of permissive and voluntary access arrangements - so there is no real need to provide additional access. Public money will be used to pay for what largely already exists.”

The CLA says that Natural England’s own figures state that more than four-fifths of the coast is already accessible to the public. Of the remainder, only half could be accessed because the rest is occupied by ports, harbours, military bases or sites of crucial conservation interest.

“At a time when the Government is trying to cut public expenditure in other, far more critical, areas it is surely irrational to spend millions of pounds replicating access that already exists. 

"If the Government wants to spend money on the coast, then it would be better spent on improving the facilities already on the established coastal paths such as maintenance, signs, toilets and car parks,” said Mr Mortimer.