New steps over the shuttering at Crinnis from the newly designated Public Right of Way

On 1st February 2010, six years after the route was blocked by Ampersand with fences and barriers, the route from Beach Road to Crinnis and across the old Coliseum site was opened as a public right of way. 

It had been the main route to the beach used by locals and visitors during decades of public use - going across the car park in front of the Coliseum building and under an arch onto the beach. 

It was finally granted official recognition as a public right of way by Cornwall County Council in April 2008 following years of hard work and determination by local footpath campaigners, Gloria Price and Frances Taylor.

At that stage, however, it was a path to nowhere as it came to an abrupt halt at steel barriers.  Access to the beach was prevented because of the illegally constructed shuttering and rock armour which bisects it.  Then steps were built over the shuttering to enable access onto the foreshore.  However, it was far from clear to the casual visitor that this is in fact possible.  A sign warns of the end of the public right of way and doesn't encourage anyone to carry on to get onto the foreshore.   

In a press release to mark the opening of the path, Commercial Estates Group (Ampersand associate company) said: "The designated route, which has been approved by Council Officers during their visit to the site, stops around 10 metres from the beach and therefore does not currently provide access to the beach".

CBW and local residents know that it's nonsense to say the route stops 10 metres from the beach - the beach was cut in half by the shuttering and rock armour erected in 2004 without planning permission.

Although that unauthorised shuttering has now been removed (CEG finally obeying an Enforcement Order after years of delay) the question of the public right of way remains.  If a wall and promenade are built, once again access to the foreshore will be at the whim of the developer.

Gloria Price and her co-campaigner Frances Taylor are now directing their efforts at getting this section also declared a public right of way, so that access to the beach is not reliant on the developer's permission. The alternative route is down 82 steep steps from the top car park and along the fenced route to the extreme western end of Crinnis near the visitor centre.  CEG says this route will still be kept open - although as it's a permissive route there is nothing to stop them closing it when they like.

A glance at old photos of the beach shows that the path does in fact reach the line of the beach which existed before the unauthorised barrier was erected in 2004.  The shuttering was built forward of this line, so that it sliced the beach along its length.  So whilst the path reaches the beach, the wall obstructed it!

The public path in front of the Coliseum met the beach at the edge of the grass area seen here in the 1970s

The unauthorised shuttering before its removal in 2011

   


BACKGROUND

In January 2003, Carlyon Bay resident Mrs Gloria Price and Mrs Frances Taylor of Carlyon Bay Campsite applied to Cornwall County Council to have several footpaths down to and across the beaches to be officially recognised as public rights of way on maps.  After deliberating for five years, the council announced in April 2008 that three should be so recognised. 

• the route from the end of Beach Road down to the old Coliseum car park and across the front of the building
• the path from Sea Road by the railway arch across the Carlyon Bay golf course to the South West Coast Path
• the route from the South West Coast Path to Fishing Point at the eastern end of Polgaver Beach 

The other two paths have also been confirmed as public footpaths and a sign at the Sea Road end of the route across the golf course which used to claim it is not a right of way has now been amended.  (The local campaigners say they would like to acknowlege the help given by the Open Spaces Society in negotiating the labyrinthine processess involved in securing these footpaths.)

Three others which were rejected by the County Council were a footpath from Beach Road down steps and across to Crinnis Rock; a footpath leading from Crinnis across heathland to Fishing Point and a footpath from the western end of Crinnis Beach to the eastern end of Polgaver Beach along the shoreline.  

BEACH ROAD ROUTE APPEAL

In July 2008, just before the deadline set by Cornwall County Council for appeals,  Ampersand announced it would appeal against the decision regarding the route from Beach Road.  That led to another public inquiry being ordered - this time by the Secretary of State for the Environment.  That public inquiry was scheduled for four days starting on 8th September 2009, but with less than a month to go Ampersand said it was withdrawing its appeal.  The reasons are not known, but footpath campaigner Gloria Price believes it was because the

The beaches at Carlyon Bay have been enjoyed by members of the public for decades and many of them gave written evidence to the campaigners.  This letter sent to Carlyon Bay Watch showed how the route from Beach has been used for generations. 

19th century map with track to Crinnis outlined in red

Ron Hicks from Fowey was born in 1923 and enclosed a map published in the second half of the 19th century which was based on one first published in 1813.  It shows the local tin and copper mines and the railway (now the Penzance to Paddington line) which was then called the Cornwall Railway.  The track he refers to, which we have highlighted in red, shows the route from what is now Beach Road down to Crinnis beach.  The symbol of the circle and cross adjacent to the top of the track means copper.  He says:  "I can truly say I did on many occasions when I was about 9 years old and after, ride an old Raleigh roadster bicycle from Fowey to the beach at Crinnis - now known to some as Carlyon Bay beach and other individual names.  Crinnis beach used to be considered to be the whole beach.  We also used to visit Spit beach.

Access to the beach was down a track, now the road, which stretched the whole length of the beach fairly close below the cliffs.  The further along you went the more overgrown the track became.   The wild plants, bushes and small trees contained a remarkable quantity of wildlife, small birds, rabbits, butterflies and numerous insects.  The cliffs still contain a number of rare birds and other wildlife.

The track we used is clearly shown on the 1813 map.  This track was used by farmers to collect sand and seaweed from the beaches and in the mining period for the miners to reach their workings."  

ACCESS OBSTRUCTED 

Carlyon Bay beaches - Tide Times from the BBC

Carlyon Bay Watch and other local residents are increasingly angry and frustrated that steel shuttering and rock armour, which has been erected illegally along the line of beaches at Carlyon Bay, makes access on foot from one end to the other impossible except at low tide or via a footbridge across the Sandy River.   

Matters are made even worse by the increasing steepness of the beach. Walking along it is becoming harder and harder because the gritty "stent" gives way under foot and the incline makes it very hard going.  Long time users of the beach know it was not like this in the past and has been caused by the unauthorised barriers erected by the developer.

Through the letters page of St Austell's The Voice newspaper on 13th January 2010,  local resident Alan Francis called for people to lobby Cornwall Council to enforce the order to remove the barrier.

February 2010 - 90 minutes to high tide, showing dangerous rock armour and steep beach incline

"New Years Day was a cold but glorious day - the perfect chance for a walk with the family to enjoy our wonderful coastline.  How very said I was to see adults and children who were enjoying Crinnis Beach being forced to scuttle back to safety, before being cut off by the tide reaching the sea wall that sprawls across the sands.

This monstrosity, as many people may not be aware, has an enforcement order against it and has to be removed by the end of this year. 

Whatever the outcome of ongoing planning wranglings, steps to remove this carbuncle should already have been put in place.  The developer claims it will take two years to remove the sea wall and they have not yet started.

Just because Restormel is 'no longer' does not mean that legal decisions made by them are no longer valid.

Please lobby Cornwall Council to ensure the developers get a move on so that we can once more enjoy unimpeded walks across our main beach, at all states of the tide." 

The footbridge built across the Sandy River at Shorthorn beach by the developer and opened with great fanfare as part of its campaign for public approval, was closed for months on end in 2009. Because of the massive boulders dumped alongside the river as part of the developer's rock armour, it could only be crossed by wading through at very low tide where it meets the sea - making a walk from one end of the beaches to the other only possible for those with the right footwear.   On a regular basis, particularly after winter storms, the river reverts to its old habit of meandering across the beach.  Ampersand had to bring in heavy equipment to force it back on a straight course again.  (Those who know the beaches will remember the river often changed direction - read more about this here).The whole river area became extremely dangerous with rocks moving and tumbling.  

In October 2009, after revealing they are looking at submitting new plans, Ampersand (now going under the name of its parent company CEG) decided to create a new user-friendly approach by re-routing the bridge. This provided a safer access to the existing bridge through the lower section of the steel shuttering with a fenced walkway.    

February 2010 -  steep banks and rock armour make crossing the Sandy River dangerous

But once again the forces of nature overcame Ampersand's efforts and the access route to the footbridge once again became dangerous because of shifting sands and voids in the rock armour.  It was closed again (January 2010), so walkers could only get along the beach by wading across the Sandy River at low tide. It was later reopened after further remedial work.

But now the developers have removed the rock armour and shuttering at Shorthorn and around the Sandy River to comply with an Enforcement Notice ordering them to remove all the unauthorised construction by December 2010.  The public enjoyed easier access to Shorthorn and Polgaver beaches for a few weeks during the summer holidays and a temporary car park was opened adjacent to Shorthorn (21 July 2010).  It closed again on 10 September 2010. The shuttering stayed on Crinnis, however, because they claimed it would mean shutting the entire beach for the summer to remove it.  Now the underlying reasons for this refusal to abide by the Enforcement Notice is becoming clear.   CEG has now (March 2011) submitted a new planning application to retain the unauthorised shuttering pending the outcome of a new planning application for the whole site.  Even the car park has been opened up again.  Perhaps the developers think this is a way of keeping the locals "happy" while they go about destroying our beach!    

CEG says, as part of its massive development plans for hundreds of apartments and houses on the site, that access will continue.  Carlyon Bay Watch and other local residents believe that relying on this developer or any future owner of the site to stick to those assurances would mean public access being by permission only and over time could be lost.  This is the reason it's been so important to get access routes to the beach recognised as public rights of way.

CEG maintains that its good intentions regarding public access are demonstrated by the money spent installing public toilets and a drinking fountain, improving the steps down to the site, providing a bus for the disabled and elderly and building a viewing platform with benches.  But Carlyon Bay Watch and footpath campaigners believe this is all beside the point.  None of these measures means public access is guaranteed as of right and enshrined in law. 

The promise of conditional public access made by the developer was in a draft Planning Agreement which is now defunct, so that, even if there was the offer of a permissive right that died with that Planning Agreement following the Secretary of State's decision in 2007.  That draft agreement contained a right of the developer to close access at its choice.  It could, for example, have chosen to close the beach on Bank Holidays or the best weeks of the season.    

Gloria Price is continuing her campaign to secure public rights of way.  She has been looking at the Marine and Coastal Access Act which becomes law in 2010.  She believes it will give the public legal access from Fishing Point to the rocks and foreshore below.  But the bill also allows for a Coastal Access Corridor (Trail) - typically four metres wide and "Spreading room" - i.e. land on the seaward side of the route (including beaches, rocks, sand dunes, sea defences, cliff tops, grassland).  This seems to mean that the public would be able to wander over the beaches for recreational purposes and not be confined to a linear route across.  But it could be years before the various routes are confirmed as inevitably landowners will want to make sure their interests are upheld.

Also it seems that the route down Beach Road will discharge into the Coastal Access "spreading zone".   (More on the Marine and Coastal Access bill)

LOCAL TITLE DEEDS AND RIGHTS OF ACCESS

The houses in Carlyon Bay were built on land originally owned by the Carlyon Estate.  During the campaign to have the beaches declared a Village Green, Carlyon Bay Watch was given access to many of the Title Deeds of properties in the area.  A significant number shared a common easement, granting rights of access to the old Carlyon Estate in perpetuity and other associated benefits.  Carlyon Bay Watch has since employed the services of solicitors to make a legal challenge to Ampersand over the blocking of the rights of access granted those easements.       

Notice regarding an easement, or "specific rights granted", to the owners of numerous properties in Edinburgh Close, Appletree Lane, Gloucester Avenue, Sea Road, Beach Road, Windsor Drive, Chatsworth Way, Haddon Way and Fairway, (also within Ampersand's registered title to the beach), is usually a clause within Title Deeds similar to the following :

" Full right and liberty for the Purchaser and its successors in title and all other persons authorised by the Purchaser or its successors in title in common with the vendors and all other persons who have or may hereafter have a like right at all times and for all purposes to pass and repass over and along all roads and parts of roads and footpaths as now existing or as subsequently widened on the Estate and in the case of the said roads with or without horses carts carriages wagons or motor cars."

We have been told that all the evidence constitutes a strong legal case. We plan to take it further.

(Find Carlyon Bay on Google Maps)