# Coastal Access Update

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This should be the last report I write for our Annual Review. By this time next year the England Coast Path should be complete and it should be possible to walk all 2,700 miles of the English coast making it the Ramblers' most ambitious National Trail and the world's longest continuous coastal trail. The Ramblers started their campaign in 2004 and I have been working with Natural England on the Kent stretch since 2010.

Originally I set out with map, GPS, camera and notebook to walk the 215 miles of the Kent and Sheppey coastline to identify the sections of the Kent coast that were inaccessible to walkers. In particular, I wanted to find the bits where access was discouraged or blocked for no apparent reason other than the landowners wanted to keep their bit of coast private. I wrote all this up into a report and Natural England were able to use it as a reference to identify where the problems were likely to be. I started at the boundary with London at the mouth of the River Darent and finished just inside East Sussex just past Jury's Gap Sluice. I later went back and surveyed from the Darent up to Woolwich when the decision was taken to extend the Coast Path back to the foot tunnel there.

Since then I have been meeting with Natural England to review progress and discuss their options for resolving the problems identified. As the Ramblers have been official stakeholders it has been important to NE to get our support and approval. I have had to take a pragmatic approach as there have been competing interests and I have not always got the route that would be best for us walkers. The main conflict has been with the environmental lobby which sees walkers as a threat to over wintering and nesting birds on the shore.

Over the years I have been a witness at one Public Hearing, two Public Inquiries and even a Licencing Appeal at a Magistrates Court to represent the Ramblers and support Natural England on issues that have impacted the Coast Path.

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The opening of the England Coast Path next year will be a milestone for the Ramblers and one of their greatest campaign successes since our formation.

Coming back to local issues. As I write this the opening of the Whitstable to Iwade stretch has just happened. Earlier in the year, in January, the Grain to Woolwich stretch was opened. This is a flagship stretch as it links London to the coast and completes the "Source to Sea" National Trail from the source of the Thames.

In the summer the Secretary of State approved two further sections on Sheppey. The first, on the North coast from Palm Trees Holiday Park to Warden Road, Warden Point and the second on the South coast from Mockets, Isle of Harty to Windmill Creek. At the time of writing, we are still awaiting a decision on the last stretch on the North coast from Oak Lane Minster to Hen's Brook, Eastchurch Gap which is the most complicated and has attracted the most objections.

The south coast of Sheppey is pretty remote and the Coast Path difficult to access. Robert Peel, our Secretary, is currently working on future guides to the Coast Path and is working with KCC to see if the landowner can be persuaded to allow access.

By the time you read this, I hope Natural England will have the Medway part of the Iwade to Grain stretch open. There are still two stretches between Iwade and Grain, where there were objections from landowners, that have still to be approved. On Ramsgate to Whitstable, KCC has finally submitted the required planning application to Thanet District Council for the fence along the golf course etc at Kingsgate Castle and hope to get the works underway in the winter.

The England Coast Path is finally becoming a reality.

*Ian Wild, Coastal Access Officer*