Local Access Forum visit to Thurstaston on the Wirral
Thurstaston Cliffs and Beach, Wirral - 25th June 2010
Heswall Fields, owned by The National Trust
between The Wirral Way and the beach.
This is where the cliffs lower themselves
to allow easy access to the shore.
From the depths of the long hard winter came the idea of adding some interest to the summer 2010 Merseyside Local Access Forum by having a site visit.
It was my turn to host the June Forum, and with the topical subject of Coastal Access being foremost, it was an obvious choice that we combine the two. It was thought that a site visit in June to look at the Wirral Coast would be appropriate.
The Merseyside Rights Of Way Officers combined a recce of the route along the cliffs and beach at Thurstaston with one of their quarterly ROWIP implementation Group meetings in March. There were several coastal access issues identified in a short distance. The location was perfect, the room at the Thurstaston Visitor centre was booked, and all we then needed apart some members to attend was the weather.
June the 25th arrived with a fabulous midsummer forecast for a dry, hot and sunny day.
During the 90 minute walk, much discussion took place. There was plenty of opportunity for Forum Members to discuss the issues along the route.
Twenty of us set off along The Wirral Way,
about 200m in land from the beach.
Within the short distance along that section of coast we were able to see a coastal caravan park, municipal land open to the public, private land currently not accessible and National Trust land with public access.
Spreading room, the legislation, timescales etc were all issues of interest that were addressed by Danny Moores.
For further information on the Coastal Access Legislation please see the Natural England website.
I think all those that attended had a thoroughly informative site visit. Thanks therefore to our hosts at Thurstaston Visitor Centre and all those that attended to make the day worthwhile. The June Local Access Forum continued after the site visit.
Robin Tutchings, Wirral Rights of Way Officer
