The Access to the Countryside (Coastal Margin) (Bawdsey to Aldeburgh) Order 2026 was made on 29 June 2026 and came into force on 30 June 2026. Signed at Defra by Hayman of Ullock, the instrument appoints 24 June 2026 as the day on which the access preparation period ends for land that becomes coastal margin on this stretch. That appointed day falls before both the making date and the commencement date. The Order does not create a new route from first principles; it completes a legal step for coastal access that had already been approved through the England Coast Path process.
Defra has made the instrument under section 3A(10) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The approved route proposals themselves sit within the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, with the coastal access framework added by the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. For policy readers, that statutory sequence matters. This instrument is about timing rather than route design. The exact line of the path, the extent of coastal margin and any local conditions still sit in the Natural England reports and the Secretary of State's approval notices.
Natural England submitted the relevant BSA1 to BSA5 reports on 3 February 2021. Together they cover the coastline from Bawdsey Quay to Butley Ferry, then to Orford Quay, onwards to Ferry Lane, across to Hazlewood Marshes car park and finally into Aldeburgh. The text also shows that approval was given in stages rather than through one single decision, with most sections approved on 2 May 2025 and the Orford Quay to Ferry Lane section cited separately on 11 November 2021. The present Order brings those decisions together for the limited purpose of fixing the end of the preparation period for the resulting coastal margin.
The phrase 'access preparation period' is technical, but its function is straightforward. It is the statutory run-in period between approval of a coastal access proposal and the point at which the approved access arrangements are treated as ready to operate for the land in question. 'Coastal margin' is equally important. In broad terms, it is the land associated with the approved coastal route that falls within the coastal access regime, not just the line of the path itself. By appointing 24 June 2026 as the end of the preparation period, the Order marks the point at which that preparatory stage has concluded for this Suffolk stretch.
The Order is also notable for what it does not do. It does not redraw the route, revisit objections, restate local restrictions or repeat the detailed maps. Anyone assessing a specific field boundary, ferry crossing, marsh section or exclusion will still need the Natural England reports and the approval documents. The Explanatory Note says no separate impact assessment has been prepared for this instrument. Defra's position is that the relevant assumptions were already covered by the impact assessment prepared for the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, so this Order is treated as part of an established national access programme rather than a new policy package.
For walkers, the practical effect is that the Bawdsey to Aldeburgh coastal access scheme has moved beyond the statutory preparation stage for the land covered by the Order. For affected owners and occupiers, the key point is that the legal status of the approved coastal margin now has to be read against the appointed date of 24 June 2026, together with any conditions or directions attached to the approved reports. For local access authorities and other public bodies, this is a reminder that coastal access is delivered through narrow but consequential instruments. With the preparation period closed, attention shifts from legal commencement to administration on the ground along this part of the Suffolk coast.