Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department will complete the coastal footpath project by the target year of 2020; what the cost to date of that project is; and from which budgets funds have been allocated for the completion of the path.

We are committed to completing the coastal path around England by 2020. As announced by the Deputy Prime Minister, extra funding will be made available and we are discussing this with HM Treasury.

To date, Natural England has incurred establishment costs of £137,238 on the three stretches of the coast where the right of access under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 has been implemented. Natural England has estimated further establishment costs of £851,730 on the six stretches where it has submitted coastal access reports to the Secretary of State, but where the right of access has not yet been implemented.

Natural England's staff costs for delivering costs coastal access are included within its overall staff budget. Natural Englad is also incurring additional costs for publishing and advertising coastal access reports, and for agreements which it has entered with access authorities to provide it with a range of access advice and to carry out preliminary work in relation to the coastal path.

The Department has spent £85,590 in meeting the costs incurred by the Planning Inspectorate in determining a number of objections which have been made to proposals in Natural England's coastal acces reports.