Coast to Coast Walk

George Eustice Excerpts

Tuesday 7th March 2017 Westminster Hall

[The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (George Eustice)]

May I also say that it is a pleasure to see my hon. Friend the Member for Copeland (Trudy Harrison) attending this debate, which is obviously of great importance to her constituency as the Coast to Coast walk starts there? I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Rishi Sunak) on securing this debate to highlight his long-running campaign for the well known Coast to Coast path. As he explained, the path was set out by the pioneering fell walker and author Alfred Wainwright in 1973, and my hon. Friend made a very strong case for it to become a national trail.

All hon. Members agree on the importance of the existing family of national trails in England, which were designated as such under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. They are long-distance routes that are maintained to a higher standard than other public rights of way, and they cover more than 2,000 miles in England. All have rights for walkers, and some are also open to horse riders and cyclists. I know that people care a lot about our national trails, and I recognise the value and the range of benefits that they bring. There can be no doubt that they are an important means of connecting people with nature. They are popular: there are at least 70 million visits each year to places that a national trail passes through. Visitors include local people, day visitors and international visitors to England. People come to enjoy some of our finest landscape and scenery, to get fresh air and hopefully to enjoy our finest weather. National trails are important to walkers and users, as they provide health and exercise benefits. They are also major tourism assets and attract a variety of visitors, who spend money that makes a significant contribution to local economies and rural regeneration.

My hon. Friend spoke of his campaign for the designation of the Coast to Coast path as a national trail. The path goes from St Bees to Robin Hood’s bay—a length of just over 190 miles. I am told it can be walked in about 11 to 15 days, although I wonder whether my hon. Friend the Member for Penrith and The Border (Rory Stewart) might do it slightly faster, given his enthusiasm for walking. It takes walkers from the north-west coast, through the Lake District and parts of the Yorkshire dales, and then finally through the North York Moors before finishing on the east coast. About 70 miles of the total 190 miles is within the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks), which highlights its importance for him.

My hon. Friend said that local people have a long-standing interest in the designation of the path. I congratulate him on the local support he has obtained for his campaign and on the enthusiastic responses received from various local authorities whose areas the path crosses. He has also made it clear that every hon. Member representing a constituency along the route of the path supports his campaign.

As my hon. Friend is aware, the key responsibility for making any proposals to designate the Coast to Coast path as a national trail lies with Natural England, which is responsible for the provisions of the 1949 Act. Under section 51 of the Act, Natural England has a power to propose new national trails to the Secretary of State. To make such a designation, all the local authorities, including any national park authorities, within whose boundaries the route will pass have to be consulted. Natural England must then prepare a report setting out various matters such as the route, maintenance costs and likely capital outlay for creating a trail. The report is submitted to the Secretary of State, who may approve, modify or reject Natural England’s proposals.

My hon. Friend has been in contact with officials at Natural England since late 2015 or early last year, and he has met Natural England’s chairman, Andrew Sells, to discuss the matter further. Natural England has provided my hon. Friend with information about its powers under the 1949 Act with respect to national trails and the process for designating a path. Natural England has said that any proposal for a path to be designated as a national trail would need to secure a considerable amount of local support from all of the access authorities through which the new national trail would pass, as well as from landowners and land users.

As is often the case, and as my hon. Friend mentioned, money is the issue with the designation of new national trails. Natural England has indicated to him that while it supports the idea of designating the Coast to Coast path as a national trail, it has no plans to designate any new national trails. At the moment the Government’s priority is to develop coastal access proposals under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 for the England Coast path, which is to become a national trail as each stretch of the coastal walk is completed. Resources are now focused therefore on the delivery of the England Coast path, which we are committed to completing by 2020. To date, we have opened up public access along 338 miles of the English coast, along with additional spreading room for people to use for recreation and enjoyment. Once complete, the England Coast path will double the total length of national trails in England. Recently, I met local representatives of Natural England to discuss proposals to complete the coastal path around Cornwall.

My hon. Friend asked whether Natural England, working alongside the relevant authorities, would undertake a feasibility study to scope out the actual route of the Coast to Coast path and to see what is required for it to be designated as a national trail. As I have said, Natural England has no plans to designate any new national trails other than the England Coast path, and any such feasibility study might divert Natural England’s existing resources away from its work on that path. Once a decision is taken to designate, there is under the process provided for by the 1949 Act something akin to a feasibility study, including, for example, exhaustive consultation with local authorities and an assessment of the required maintenance costs. That is what I believe my hon. Friend is asking for, which would be the first stage of designation, rather than a separate feasibility study.

Once the England Coast path has been implemented in 2020, Natural England might be able to look at options for the Coast to Coast walk. I am sure that hon. Members with an interest in that will want to look at whether future party manifestos might include issues of this sort. In the meantime, I point out that other funds are available, such as those to promote tourism in rural communities. Perhaps alternative sources of funding can help to raise the profile of the Coast to Coast path in preparation for possible designation. It should also be remembered that nothing prevents local authorities along the path from increasing either their level of support for it or the amount they are willing to spend on its maintenance. There is no requirement to leave such activity to Natural England; in the interim, local authorities may invest in the path.

I recognise the value that users place on the experience of the Coast to Coast walk and the tourism value that it can bring to local communities. As I have pointed out, many other long-distance regional and trans-regional paths in England have the support of local communities and access authorities along their route in recognition of their value, although not all of them are national trails. I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) for his lively campaign, however and for setting out so ably the case for the walk to become a national trail. I hope that he understands that limitations on our budget mean that we cannot consider that yet, but I encourage him and other colleagues to maintain pressure on local authorities and perhaps, in a few years’ time, once we have completed the England Coast path, to revisit the issue with Ministers.

Question put and agreed to.