Queen may open Sandringham path under Marine and Coastal Access Bill

The Queen is likely to be one the first landowners to open up private land, on her Sandringham estate, as part of a plan to create a new path around the English coast.

The stretch from King’s Lynn to Hunstanton along the North Norfolk coast has no legal right of way and has been identified as a priority for access by ramblers and the Government’s conservation advisers.

New laws under the Marine and Coastal Access Bill to open up beaches, inlets and clifftops out of bounds to walkers and tourists will come into force in November. Officials from Natural England will then start drawing up detailed plans for the coastal path in consultation with landowners. The scheme is to cost £50 million over the next ten years.

Maps published today show for the first time the scale of the project. They reveal that a third of the 2,748 miles of coastline is closed to the public. They also show that many miles of footpaths already open to walkers could vanish into the sea within 20 years because of erosion. The powers will allow Natural England to identify “spreading room” next to such paths so that they can be moved back over the decades.



Officials have conducted an audit of every section of the English coast and found that people mostly can walk only about two miles before their path is blocked, either because it is too dangerous or it is on private land.

Owners will now be identified to see how best the trail can continue. Private gardens are exempt, and restrictions are often necessary on Ministry of Defence land. Routes may also have to be closed for conservation reasons or for public safety.

Poul Christiansen, acting chairman of Natural England, said that he hoped most areas would welcome the extra income and visitors that a path would attract. A coastal path in the South West, for example, generates £300 million a year for the rural economy, and 76 per cent of the coast in the region is open for walkers.

Mr Christiansen described the sea view trail as “visionary and iconic” and said that it would add enormously to the experience of people visiting the coast. “We are an island, and therefore the sea is and always has been extremely important to us. Millions of us visit it every year,” he said.

The Ramblers Association has led the campaign to open up the coast and is particularly keen to have access to private beaches such as the one at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, one of Queen Victoria’s favourite retreats, owned by English Heritage. Tom Franklin, the association’s chief executive, said: “Access to our coast is vulnerable and fragmented. The public needs the Government to hold firm and introduce legislation that will make access to our coast the envy of Europe and the world.”

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said that managers at the Sandringham estate were willing to discuss proposals for the path. Among other coastal scenery on the wish list for ramblers are the Holker Hall estate on the Cumbrian coastal path, owned by the Duke of Devonshire; a private beach along the Beaulieu river owned by the Beaulieu estate, in Hampshire; and Pilling Bank, near Cockerham Sands, Lancashire, where the local authority has banned a right of way along flood defences.