A new map is pathway to opening coastal trail.

A new map has been published of the county’s coastlines showing rights of access for members of the public.

The map is the result of a regional audit undertaken for the Marine and Coastal Access Bill, which is expected to go through Parliament this coming autumn.

Commissioned by Natural England, the regional audit shows that only 61 per cent of the East Midlands coastline has a satisfactory, legally secure coastal pathway. The remaining 39 per cent has restricted, informal access or no access whatsoever.

Dave Parker, Natural England’s access specialist for the East Midlands, explained the importance of creating access to the entirety of Lincolnshire’s coastlines.

“Walking is a tremendously popular activity on the English coastline, and although there are some good stretches of high quality coastal path, there are many other parts where the picture is very fragmented,” he said.

“This audit is an important first step in understanding the current position of access in the East Midlands and gives us a good, sound basis upon which to work with land owners and managers when we reach the stage of implementation.”

In total, 2,748 miles of England’s coast was audited, of which only 66 per cent carried satisfactory access. The audit showed that, on average, a walker can go no further than two miles before encountering a section of inaccessible coast.

The challenge proposed by Natural England is to create a continuous route around England’s coast by creating approximately 1,000 miles of new pathway, as well as establishing a ‘corridor of land’ in which people will be able to rest and explore the coastal environment.

The new pathways will also be made erosion-proof, with the land rolling inward when landslips occur. Natural England’s survey estimates that 13 per cent of the existing accessible coastal pathways could be lost to erosion within the next 20 years.

Providing that the Marine and Coastal Access Bill comes to pass, it is expected that the new coastal pathways will take 10 years to complete.

However, the Country Land and Business Association says that the regional audit ignored the need to improve accessible coastal paths.

East Midlands director of the CLA Helen Wooley said that their main concerns were for the private property owners, whose businesses could be adversely affected by the implementations to secure access to the entire coastline, arguing that the Government should have done more to improve existing access.

“The audit has shown that the public already enjoys a right to access to two-thirds of the English coast,” she said. “It is unfortunate it has ignored the access coastal landowners provide on a voluntary basis.”