Vale council launches two coastal pathways

Vale residents and visitors can now take full advantage of the area's stunning coastline, following the official launch of two stretches of the coastal path at Lavernock and Heritage Coast.

The continuous linear Wales Coast Path, which will be completed in May, will stretch for some 1400km (870 miles) around the whole coast of Wales, linking to Offa's Dyke National Trail, running along the English border to provide a complete circuit.

Funded by the Welsh Government and delivered through local authorities from 2007 to 2013, the Coastal Access Improvement Programme will make physical improvements to existing paths along the coast, develop new routes, provide information and improve opportunities for access.

And the programme has allowed the Vale of Glamorgan Council to undertake considerable improvements along its stretch of the coast path, which extends for 45km from Bridgend at Ogmore in the west to Cardiff Bay Barrage in the east and incorporates most of the Heritage Coast, which is 14 miles in total.

In St Mary’s Well Bay, Lavernock, the council has worked with the Welsh Government, South and West Wales Wildlife Trust and St Mary's Well Bay Caravan Park to provide an alternative route, following collapse of the previous footpath due to erosion.

Within the Heritage Coast, the council has worked with Dunraven Estates to dedicate 7.5km of access as a public path. This represents a sizeable addition to the public footpath network and in turn has allowed major works to be undertaken, significantly improving the path through the valley at Cwm Mawr as well as upgrading gates and signing along the rest of the route.

The full 870 mile length of the Wales Coast Path will be officially opened in its entirety on Saturday, 5 May 2012. One of the three official openings will take place in Cardiff, on the Roald Dahl Plass.

Environment Minister John Griffiths said:

"The Wales Coast Path is already ensuring worldwide recognition for our beautiful coast. Indeed, Lonely Planet has named Wales’ coast the greatest region on Earth to visit in 2012.

"We expect the Wales Coast Path to attract an extra 100,000 new visitors to our coast each year. This is great news for coastal businesses, great news for our tourism industry and great news for Wales’ economy as a whole, particularly at this economically challenging time.

"The fact that the Wales Coast Path will be open ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, when the eyes of the world will be on the UK is another real plus point. However the path is not just for tourists, and I really hope it will encourage people in the Vale of Glamorgan and across Wales to get out and about and enjoy their local coast line and countryside."

Picture caption (L to R): Trica Cottnam, coastal access officer; Frank Colman, chair of local access forum; Sue Rice, Countryside Council for Wales; Bob Guy, VOG; Alex Bailey, bay caravan park and Gwyn Teague, Rights of Way Officer, launch the new coastal path at Lavernock.

Find out more about Public Rights of Way in the Vale here.