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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will delegate authority to Natural England to agree the whole route for the South Coast coastal path.

Defra’s and Natural England’s roles in delivering the England Coast Path, including those stretches on the south coast, are well defined and set out in the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and subsequent regulations. The two organisations work closely together to ensure that the path is delivered in a way that provides fair balance between the interests of users and those of landowners and occupiers along the route. There are no plans to change these ways of working.