Access to the Countryside (Coastal Margin) (England) Order 2010

My Lords, I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken and for the volley of questions to which I am meant to produce a response—presumably before 7 pm, as the Committee will not continue for much longer than that. I am not entirely surprised, as we will all recall our extensive discussions on these important issues regarding the coastal path during the passage of the Bill. I am keen to commend the order but I also wish to provide reassurance on the points that have been raised about the consultation that will take place and the decisions that will need to be taken before the construction of the coastal path is achieved in any significant dimension. I emphasise that the creation of the path will involve a process of consultation and, therefore, judgment will be exercised by Natural England, taking into account all those factors that have caused anxiety. I take first the most obvious point. The noble Lord, Lord Taylor, asked what will happen when the coastal path goes through ploughed land. We would not expect the extensive provision and width that will apply to aspects of the path when it causes no inconvenience to anyone and does not adversely affect farmland. The narrowest definition of the path would obtain in the circumstances that the noble Lord mentions. We have indicated that greater breadth might occur elsewhere, where local interests are readily reconciled to that extra dimension. It is clear that, in order to realise the concept of the coastal path, Natural England will seek to pursue a path as close as possible to the coast, as the noble Lord, Lord Greaves, emphasised. However, we all recognise the number of issues that manifestly need to be taken into account. Much of today’s discussion can be summed up against the background that, before decisions are arrived at, full consultation will have taken place and Natural England will have regard to such factors. That will be the situation with regard to ploughed land. The noble Duke, the Duke of Montrose, spoke with great authority about golf courses, as did the noble Baroness, Lady Byford, and the noble Lord, Lord Taylor. I have some experience of golf courses and seaside courses in particular. I know that the issues raised by noble Lords are interesting and significant, but many golf courses already tackle such issues with the minimum amount of difficulty. A large number of golf courses include private rights of way. The noble Lord, Lord Greaves, is absolutely right to say that nothing at all in this order, or the Act from which it derives, in any way subverts, destroys or ends the rights that already obtain through historical factors and the exigencies of existing provision. Those who play on golf courses often have to cope with such a situation and they do so with a degree of consideration. Also, the normal law of negligence will apply in these circumstances, although it will depend on the facts of the case as to whether a court decides that the golfer owed a duty of care to the walker and whether the danger was foreseeable. Most golfers are all too well aware of the dangers and many of them take out their own insurance. Most golf clubs whose courses have rights of access for the public insure all their members against any potential danger. In fact, they do so even when there are no rights of access. If a road adjoined a course, a stray golf ball could cause an accident and I assure noble Lords that a club would be singularly ill advised if it did not have insurance in those circumstances. I do not think that the coastal path creates anything new. It may affect new areas but, following the concept of how golfers live with members of the public who have a right of way, there is nothing novel in this situation. The normal law of the land applies and people have to act with consideration where propelling a golf ball at considerable speed creates risks for those who are within range. Those are the inevitable facts of that pursuit, to which some of us are drawn for reasons that we would not dare to go into in rational company. I give way to the noble Baroness. She is concerned about the land.