CLA will tell Minister that Statutory Coastal Access will Inflict Serious Commercial Damage
Proposals to introduce a statutory right of access to the coast could threaten the profitability of coastal businesses, have an adverse impact on farming and devalue private homes – that's the message West Country landowners will be delivering to Rural Affairs Minister, Jonathan Shaw, on (Tuesday Feb 12).
The Under Secretary of State for Marine, Landscape and Rural Affairs, will be meeting representatives of the CLA, the rural economy experts, who will attempt to persuade him that the Government is rushing up the wrong path in the efforts to improve access to the English coast.
CLA South West Director, John Mortimer will be taking Jonathan Shaw, on a whistle stop tour of Cornwall and Devon to show him how effective the South West coast path is in delivering access and supporting tourism around the region - but at the same time the Minister will see examples of businesses and individuals who would suffer serious losses if current proposals for a statutory, unmapped coastal corridor were pushed through.
"The Minister has offered us a unique opportunity to make our case - and we will be certain to give him a comprehensive view of all the issues. It's a chance for him see at first hand why the South West coast path works so well and what real threats Natural England's access proposals pose."
During his visit the Minister will meet farmers where management regimes will have to be changed to accommodate unregulated access, businesses whose unique selling point would be lost if privacy were to disappear and individuals whose house would be seriously devalued by the proposal.
The visit follows a meeting between the CLA and the chairman of Natural England, Sir Martin Doughty. The CLA's vice president, Harry Cotterell, told Sir Martin that existing demand for access to the coast was already being met and that the acquisition of private property rights without compensation was totally unacceptable.
"Natural England claims that this proposed new right of access could be integrated with land management and the environment and that the proposals will be good for the public, good for wildlife, good for the landscape and good for landowners too. If that were indeed the case, we would support these proposals unreservedly – but we say it isn't. We will provide case-based evidence that there are better ways of enabling both the public and private owners to get the maximum benefit from increased access to the coast - without creating significant losers," said Mr Mortimer.
