Memorandum submitted by the Northumberland
National Park & Countryside Local Access Forum (DMB 20)
1. We feel that, where available, existing
coastal rights of way should be used as part of the new access
trail rather than the creation of additional rights in close proximity
to the existing ones. In Northumberland we already have "Nortrail",
an EU funded coastal footpath from Creswell to Berwick and we
recommend that this be used as the basis for the new trail.
2. We feel that there is an opportunity
to include access rights for horses and cycles under the new legislation
where appropriate.
3. We are concerned that, whilst there are
funds for the creation of the new rights, there do not appear
to be any funds for the maintenance of the new rights. We believe
that additional funding for access is required for local authorities
to manage the existing rights of way network and the creation
of these new rights without additional funding creates extra pressure
on local authorities and actually means that the ROW network,
whilst larger, is likely to be in poorer condition. There is another
point here in that not all local authorities have any coastline
and therefore those with a lot will be unfairly affected.
4. We note that, where a national trail
is created, (and it could be argued that the new rights do create
a national trail) compensation is payable to affected landowners;
we therefore feel that this issue should be debated further.
5. We feel that the description of "spreading
room" may not be easily understood by the public and feel
that maps and signs at a local level will be required in order
to ensure that the new rights are properly understood, this will
also reduce possible conflict between landowners and the public
6. The National Rail East Coast Main Line
travels very close to the Coast along a significant stretch of
Northumberland and this may give rise to specific safety and access
issues.
7. The Northumberland Coast contains many
areas of historic and environmental importance and we assume that
advise from the relevant bodies will be given due regard.
8. We have some concerns regarding the proposed
path itself, we do not feel that a 4m wide path is required if
the trail is only for pedestrians, there could be a negative impact
on the landscape if a 4m wide surface was laid along the coast.
We therefore feel that an unsurfaced 1.5m wide path (as required
for normal footpaths) is the most appropriate design with specific
surfacing problems being dealt with at a local level.
9. We acknowledge the sensitive nature of
dune systems and recommend that they are not used to create the
proposed path but are used as spreading room.
10. We see no reason why the new trail cannot
be available for horses and cycles where the local landscape allows,
the Northumberland Coast is a relatively flat and open coastline
which would provide suitable conditions for these higher rights
to be created.
11. We do not believe that the potential
problems of litter, parking and increased congestion have been
fully considered. We believe that the lack of parking facilities
are likely to cause illegal parking and blocking of agricultural
gateways.
12. We note that the creation of the new
rights will be carried out in discussion with landowners and managers,
we wish to understand more fully how much regard will be paid
to the views of landowners and managers.
13. We suggest that, where existing permissive
access rights exist, these also be considered as being favoured
routes for the new trail, permissive access routes are already
agreed by the landowner and are understood by the public, this
non legislative approach to solving access problems should be
supported by the new legislation.
James Brown
Vice Chairman
Northumberland National Park & Countryside Local
Access Forum
May 2008
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