Letter to Daily Post and Western Mail

3.04.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 2nd Jul 2007

Dear Sir,

May I welcome the announcement that the Welsh Assembly Government is to invest £1.5 million in securing an all-Wales coastal path for people across Wales, so that they may enjoy the beauty of our varied coastline environment.

Improving public access to Welsh waterways, our countryside and our coastline should indeed be a priority for the Welsh Assembly Government and I am pleased to see the new Rural Development Minister Jane Davidson rising to the challenge.

However, I fear that this cash injection to get the path finished in time for the 2012 Olympics may miss a key opportunity to bring responsible public access to our coastlines into the 21st Century.

I would urge the government to consider not just the completion of an all-Wales coastal path, but also the development of opening up a 'coastal access corridor'. Many user groups in Wales including ramblers, climbers and mountaineers have long pressed the Assembly Government to take this step and give them the access to cliffs and beaches that would enhance people's enjoyment of our natural environment. As long as this was done with careful consideration of ecological, geological and environmental factors, there seems no reason why this should not be the case.

Consultation on public access to the English coastline went out on the 19th June. Here we should not let this opportunity for similar debate in Wales slip by.

Yours Sincerely,

Eleanor Burnham

Welsh Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for North Wales