Public rights of way

England Coast Path

The England Coast Path will be a 2,700 mile National Trail around the whole of the English coast. It will link up the best existing coastal paths and create new ones where there were none before. There will also be new public rights of access to areas of coastal land such as beaches, cliffs and foreshore.

401 miles of the path are already open to the public. A further 755 miles is approved and undergoing construction works before the new access rights come into place.

Opening access to the coast is part of the government’s ambition to connect people with nature and is key to the 25-year environment plan.

Benefits

By improving access to the coast, the England Coast Path is expected to bring significant benefits to: 

  • local economies and communities
  • recreational users
  • public health
  • enable users to experience, recognise and value the benefits of our environment

Over 29 million leisure walking trips took place on English coastal paths in 2017. Over £379 million is spent in the national economy because of trips to use English coastal paths, of which £350 million is spent within local coastal economies.

This is estimated to support 5,900 full time jobs in local coastal economies.

Progress

A new stretch of the England Coastal Path between Grain and London has now been opened.

Find out about the South East section of the England Coastal Path. 

Maps

View some of the stretches on the England Coastal Path:

You can also use the National Trails interactive map and find out more about the trail itself on the National Trails website.