On 5 November representatives of the RICS met with officials from Defra and Natural England to discuss the coastal access provisions of the draft marine bill. It is anticipated that the full bill will be announced in the Queen’s speech of December 3rd.

Of the issues that were discussed, particular attention was paid to the questions of compensation, the right of appeal and access to the coast.

On the first of these issues, compensation, the RICS stated its belief that where a person with an interest in the land is affected by the imposition of a coastal order and is able to prove a quantifiable loss as a result of this, then compensation which is equal to the amount of this loss should be paid. Unfortunately, on this point the government remain of the opinion that legislation is sufficiently flexible to strike a fair balance between those with an interest in the land and the interest of the public in having access.

On the right of appeal, the RICS outlined its view that an appeal procedure against the imposition of the right to coastal access should be put in place in order to prevent Natural England from taking risks in defining the route and spreading room and to reduce the risk of confrontation. As with the points on compensation, the government remains of the opinion that an appeal process is inappropriate as the landowner already has sufficient opportunity to make representations to government about their proposals.

Finally, with regards to the question of access to the coast (as opposed to access along the coast), the government made it clear that the intention was for spreading room to be used for picnic areas and so on but not for larger areas such as car parks as existing car parks. It was also stressed that the proposals will be sufficiently flexible to enable pathways to be linked to cafes and so on as the bill progresses.