COMPENSATION should be paid to landowners losing out as a result of plans to open up the coastline to walkers, a powerful Commons committee said yesterday.

The Labour-dominated committee of MPs condemned the lack of an appeals process for anyone locked in battle with Natural England about letting the footpath cross their land.

Ministers want to create a single footpath the full length of the English coastline, based on the success of the South West Coast Path.

However, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee warned that in areas where the path would need to go across private land, more work needed to be done to alleviate the “inevitable conflict”.

Where substantial financial losses would be suffered, compensation should be made available, said the MPs. But the committee was “still to be convinced” that the Government had put aside enough money for the project, set to cost £50 million over 10 years.

If Natural England – the Government's conservation agency drawing up the plans – has “got its sums wrong”, either the flagship path will not be finished or other areas of the agency's work will face cutbacks. The organisation is already having to find £5 million of savings this year after its budget was cut by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Committee chairman Michael Jack said: “The Government must look again at the question of appeals and compensation if this (Marine) Bill is to command widespread landowners' confidence. Without these facilities, there will be scepticism about the 'leave it all to Natural England' approach currently at the heart of the Bill.

“Long-term success of the coastal pathway will not be realised unless the Government also reviews the resources available for the measure, especially when it comes to the question of who will pay for the maintenance of the pathway.”

The committee's report said it was “uneasy” that Natural England would be simply trusted to “get it right” without detailed rules on how it might be done.

The process would inevitably trigger some “conflict” between landowners and Natural England. More “concrete safeguards” were needed to protect landowners amid a “fear of the unknown”.

Lack of a formal appeal process was a “fundamental weakness” of the legislation which at present was not “sensible and fair”, said the report.

Giving evidence to the inquiry, Devon County Council said a proper right of appeal would be “important” for landowners because “they want to be able to have their opportunity to make sure their concerns are aired publicly”.

An appeals process was also backed by the NFU, the National Trust, the Countryside Alliance and Devon Countryside Access Forum.

The proposals would add around 1,400 miles of new or improved coastal paths around England.