Memorandum submitted by the British Marine
Federation (DMB 50)
1. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
1.1 The BMF welcomes Government proposals
to establish a coastal path around England and believes similar
proposals should be developed in Wales and Scotland.
1.2 The BMF believes that a number of its
members business premises should be exempted from any new legislation
on security and health and safety grounds, but looks forward to
working closely with DEFRA to establish solutions where this may
be the case.
1.3 The BMF supports proposals in the Draft
Bill to amend the CROW Act regarding wider access to the water
from designated coastal areas.
2. INTRODUCTION
2.1 The British Marine Federation (BMF)
welcomes the opportunity to provide comments to the EFRA Committee
on it's inquiry into the coastal access provisions of the Draft
Marine Bill. The BMF recognises the importance of the Bill to
a wide range of stakeholder organisations and the efforts already
made into drafting the current proposals.
2.2 The British Marine Federation is the
trade association for the leisure boating industry representing
around 1600 member companies, with 19 group associations and 14
regions. The BMF also operates the London and Southampton International
Boat Shows via its subsidiary National Boat Shows.
2.3 Key facts about our industry are contained
in a number of recent publications that reveal the following headlines:
— Up to 4 million adults participate
in boating and watersports in the UK.[18]
— Our industry directly employs over
35,000 people, within over 4300 businesses, the majority of which
are SMEs.[19]
— The marine industry revenue is almost
£3 billion, of which the value added contribution is £1.05
billion.
— The associated tourism activity generates
at least a further £2.2 billion, supporting up to 63,000
jobs.[20]
3. GOVERNMENT'S
VISION FOR
COASTAL ACCESS
3.1 As a trade association representing
the recreational boating industry, we fully support the decision
to encourage the population to enjoy the coastline for recreational
pursuits and to benefit from our extensive natural coastal resources.
As such, the BMF broadly welcomes the proposals for access in
this piece of legislation, and believes they should also be extended
to the rest of the coastline of Great Britain via the devolved
institutions in Wales and Scotland.
3.2 We believe that enabling greater access
to the coastline would encourage greater participation in waterborne
recreation. This brings not only health and wellbeing benefits
but can also lead to a significance boost to the coastal economy.
4. POTENTIAL
EXCEPTIONS TO,
AND DEVIATIONS
FROM A
ROUTE GIVING
CONTINUOUS ACCESS
TO THE
COAST
4.1 Whilst supporting greater coastal access,
as an organisation representing a number of industries who rely
on the land/sea interface as part of their core business, the
BMF would oppose any plans to allow access through commercial
and operational sites. Examples of such sites include marinas
and working boat yards, where health and safety is paramount.
4.2 The BMF welcomes the statement in the
Draft Bill (explanatory notes) that "The route itself| will
not go through ports or defence establishments where security
and safety are issues", and notes the commitment to "Consultation
with landowners| to take account of their concerns over issues
such as | business interests". This principle should be extended
to smaller premises where similar concerns exist.
4.2 Issues of health and safety are obviously
our major concern, not only for the individuals who would wish
to enter a site, but in terms of the additional financial burden
on site operators to insure themselves against potential injury
claims. We therefore strongly welcome the proposal to remove land
occupiers liability in respect of non-natural features (subject
to the occupier having not acted recklessly).
4.3 The ability for access through operational
sites such as Marinas where high value pieces of equipment are
stored is a risk to security and is another reason why detours
around commercial developments are essential.
5. ACCESS TO
THE WATER
FROM LAND
5.5 The BMF supports moves to make sure
new regulations for coastal access amend those currently included
in the CROW Act which restrict the movement of equipment such
as canoes on designated rights of way. From our perspective, modifications
to CROW should be made in light of the need to encourage recreational
boating activity on the coast.
5.6 The BMF believes that the new legislation
could benefit the recreational boating industry and users alike
if changes are made allowing wider access to the water from designated
coastal access corridors with appropriate detours around busy
operational coastal developments.
The BMF would be happy to provide further evidence
to the committee, or indeed take part in an evidence session should
the committee wish. We look forward to further involvement as
your scrutiny continues.
British Marine Federation
May 2008
18 Watersports and Leisure Participation Report 2007-BMF,
MCA, RNLI & RYA (Sponsored by Sunsail). Back
19
UK Leisure & Small Commercial Marine Industry Key Performance
Indicators 2006-07. Back
20
BMF Economic Benefits of the UK Boating Industry-2006. Back
| 
