Collection

King Charles III England Coast Path: Isle of Sheppey

Find out about the progress of improving coastal access – including maps, process and timing – in Kent.

Map of the stretch

Natural England has begun to investigate how to improve coastal access along a 51km stretch of the Kent coast around the Isle of Sheppey.

Officers from Kent County Council and Swale District Council are providing Natural England with expert local advice and helping to make sure there is full consultation with local interests during the development of the route.

Stage of progress

Stage 4: Determine

On 22 January 2020, Natural England submitted a collection of reports to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs setting out the proposals for improved access to the coast round the Isle of Sheppey.

The period for making representations and objections about the reports closed at midnight, Wednesday 18 March 2020. The reports are still available to view.

Objections are forwarded for consideration by an independent planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State. The inspector will make recommendations to the Secretary of State in respect of each one.

Natural England may not make any further changes to the reports as a result of the representations and objections, but will make comments about them for consideration by the Secretary of State and, in the case of objections, the appointed person (an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate).

The Secretary of State will consider all the representations and objections before making a decision about Natural England’s reports. The reports in the collection may get approval at the same time. Some of them may need further consideration.

You can see the current status of the collection in the table.

Report number and title Stage 4 Stage 5 (approved)
IOS 1: Kingsferry Bridge to Alsager Avenue, Rushenden   12 November 2020
IOS 2: Alsager Avenue, Rushenden to Oak Lane, Minster   12 November 2020
IOS 3: Oak Lane, Minster to Hen’s Brook, Eastchurch Gap yet to be determined  
IOS 4: Hen’s Brook, Eastchurch Gap to Palm Trees Holiday Park   12 November 2020
IOS 5: Palm Trees Holiday Park to Warden Road, Warden Point   10 August 2022
IOS 6: Warden Road, Warden Point to Isle of Harty (east)   12 November 2020
IOS 7: Isle of Harty (east) to Mocketts, Isle of Harty (west)   12 November 2020
IOS 8: Mocketts, Isle of Harty (west) to Windmill Creek   10 August 2022
IOS 9: Windmill Creek to Ferry Road   12 November 2020
IOS 10: Ferry Road to Swale Station via Kingsferry Bridge   12 November 2020

Next steps

Stage 5: Open

Once the Secretary of State has approved 1 or more of the reports, Natural England will start work with Kent County Council on preparing the route for public use.

The first step will be to contact owners and occupiers of the affected land to discuss the design and location of any new infrastructure which is required such as signs and gates.

When preparations are complete, new access rights will be brought into force along the route and adjoining spreading room.

Find out more about the England Coast Path

See information about all stretches in preparation around England’s coast.

The coastal access scheme gives details of the process being followed to improve access to the coast.

Contact the coastal access team

Contact Natural England with any comments, suggestions or queries you have about improving coastal access.

King Charles III England Coast Path delivery team (South east)

Natural England
Floor 9, International House
Dover Place
Ashford
Kent

Email southeastcoastalaccess@naturalengland.org.uk

Telephone 020 8026 8045

See the map below for information about progress on improving coastal access in other parts of the south of England.

Updates to this page

Published 23 September 2016
Last updated 10 August 2022 + show all updates
  1. Page updated to show lengths IOS5 and IOS8 have been approved.

  2. Added table showing the reports which make up the collection. Page updated to show that 7 of the 10 reports have received Secretary of State approval.

  3. Page updated to show this stretch is now at stage 4.

  4. Changed expected date for publication of the reports to early 2020.

  5. Removed the sentence giving a date for when access is expected to be ready. Publication of the report is expected in winter 2020.

  6. Date amended: access expected to be ready in 2020.

  7. Updated page to show stretch has moved to stage 2 and 3: develop and propose

  8. First published.