Lighthouse Beach Update –
PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY If you have lived in Kingswear for many years you will be aware that we used to have a beach on the river called Lighthouse Beach where many of the older and mid- dle-aged residents of this fair town learned to swim and where they disported themselves on fine summer days (see picture). About 13 years ago, the beach was closed by the landowner for various reasons and access has since been unavailable. A huge amount of work has gone on since that time
trying to find a way of re-opening the beach and dialogue with the beach owners, one of the Southwick families, reached the stage where we had an agreement to re-open the beach, subject to certain conditions. Delays in this process have been frustrating but recent national and legal developments have moved the situation on to a different place. Natural England is working on opening up the coast all around the British Isles so that we all have access BY RIGHT and not just permission. Basically we have the choice whether to support this
right or to oppose it and our access to Lighthouse Beach will depend upon feedback received from the residents of Kingswear and area. Here below is the information you will need if you
wish to oppose or support the right to access of the beach, please read it carefully and, above all, PLEASE RESPOND. (The response shown below was given to letters written by Michael stevens of Orchard Terrace.) ‘Natural England has been reviewing coastal access
between Lyme Regis and Kingswear and has recently pub- lished its proposals. These can be found at the following web site.
www.gov.uk/government/collections/england- coast-path-kingswear-to-lyme-regis You may find the above document difficult to follow as
it addresses only those areas of coast that will be barred to public access and so does not mention Lighthouse Beach specifically. To clarify this matter I obtained the following from Natural England. Dear Mr Stevens Many thanks for getting in touch following the publication of Natural England’s coastal access report for Kingswear to Lyme Regis. Under the coastal access legislation all areas of beach and foreshore are included in our proposals by default, as one of the main guiding principles is to allow access to these areas. Therefore Lighthouse Beach is included in our coastal access proposals as part of the accessible coastal margin (‘spreading room’) which will become subject to coastal access rights once the coastal access legislation comes into force on this stretch of coast. This means that people would have the legal right to walk on the beach. Natural England does not have the power to remove barriers to access areas of ‘coastal margin’ - in this case the locked
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gate and fencing before the beach. Devon County Council does, however, have this power and may choose to exercise this when these proposals come into force. I have been in touch with the Council and they are aware of the local demand for this barrier to be removed. Following the eight-week period following publication (end- ing on 25 May) all objections and representations submitted will be considered and independently assessed. The Planning Inspectorate will decide if any objections need to be investi- gated further. Depending on the decisions made following this, then the proposals will either be signed off by the Secre- tary of State or amended as appropriate. There will then be a period of ‘establishment’ for any areas of the route which need works (for example improvements to infrastructure such as gates etc), before the ‘coastal access rights’ will formally commence on the stretch of coast between Kingswear and Lyme Regis. We envisage that this will happen during 2018. I hope this helps to clarify our proposals in relation to Light- house Beach. Kind regards Christine White, Lead Adviser - Coastal Access (Devon, Cornwall & Exmoor), Natural England Contact details:
southwestcoastalaccess@naturalengland.org.uk Telephone 0208 0267602
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