Paul Millard of the CLA writes . . .

NATURAL England has just admitted that – with the exception of plans for the Weymouth area – it cannot afford to introduce the rest of the proposed coastal access scheme within the 10-year time frame originally intended.

The last Government’s announcement that access to the coast around Weymouth would be the priority to ensure access for all in time for the 2012 sailing will have come as a surprise to many local people – who know that access to pretty much all of the coast in this area has existed for a long time.

According to Natural England’s own figures, 84 per cent of the coast is already accessible to the public. Of the remaining 16 per cent, eight per cent will remain inaccessible because it is covered by ports, military bases and so on. That leaves just eight per cent of the English coast which might require new access provision – but, surely, spending £50million of public money on providing a statutory right of access cannot be justified when we are looking at cuts in the so-called front line services.

The problem is that, although this will delay the implementation of the scheme, the real outcome will be that every coastal homeowner, farmer and business in England will have their land blighted because of the uncertainty which will remain as long as the legislation is in force.

Many businesses depend on – and welcome – public access but equally there are others which would have their legitimate business activities adversely affected by the imposition of a statutory right of access. The latest news makes business planning difficult if not impossible – which is surely unacceptable particularly at a time when all businesses should be free to prosper.

The CLA maintains that the idea of a statutory route around the complete coastline represents poor value for the taxpayer.

n Dorset farmers have now been invited to come up with ways of reducing the bureaucratic burdens that English farmers and food producers face.

The new Task Force on Farming Regulation is calling for opinions and ideas on ways to improve regulation as part of a wide ranging consultation.

Evidence can be submitted online at engage.defra.gov.uk /farm-regulation.

Written submissions can be sent to FarmRegulationTaskForce@defra.gsi.gov.uk