Footpath plan a 'waste of money'

WALKERS who enjoy a popular scenic footpath are preparing to oppose plans for it to be diverted.

Last year, the Environment Agency applied to East Lindsey District Council to create a new footpath at Donna Nook, where they are currently undertaking a managed coastal realignment scheme. The council refused the permission and the Environment Agency is now applying to Lincolnshire County Council for a footpath diversion.

The Environment Agency said the proposal for the footpath is a direct consequence of the realignment works to create a new inter-tidal wetland habitat at Donna Nook.

The work would include removing a 40m wide section of the footpath to create a breach in the flood embankment, leaving a gap. Walkers would then have to retrace their steps and then continue on the new footpath. A spokesman for the Environment Agency said: "Diverting the footpath was a condition of our planning permission, and we are working to progress it.

"Our application to Lincolnshire County Council will be open to a full public consultation, so members of the public can have their say."

But one North Somercotes resident, Rose Stanhope, is concerned about the footpath and the cost of the whole scheme.

She said: "The new sea bank is about 2m high, very steep, narrow at the top and constitutes a detour inland of at least two miles. No account has been taken of the danger if someone tries to cross the dyke rather than take the detour.

"It interrupts the unofficial, but well used long distance path along the coast, which will now be downgraded at Donna Nook to a Permissible Path, allowing limited access and restrictions to be placed on people using it.

"Those of us who regularly walk at Donna Nook have been dismayed by the colossal waste of public money and the cavalier attitude of the Environment Agency to public opinion."

Sheila Pearce, clerk of North Somercotes Parish Council, said concerns will be discussed at the next meeting on July 22.

She said: "We have heard from a number of parishioners about the continued efforts to try and get the breach.

"There are concerns that if this goes ahead, there could be a tragedy from the gap that's created. It will also stop a circular walk which is a real asset which will instead be taken a considerable distance inland which will not have the same view out to sea."

Chris Miller, countryside access manager at Lincolnshire County Council, said: "We will hold a full and thorough public consultation process before any decision is made on this footpath diversion.

"We hope to be able to launch the first part of this process, the informal consultation, in the coming weeks."