A heritage coast is a strip of coastline in England and Wales, the extent of which is defined by agreement between the relevant statutory national agency and the relevant local authority. Such areas are recognised for their natural beauty, wildlife and heritage and amongst the purposes of definition is support for these qualities and enabling enjoyment of them by the public. For England this national agency is Natural England (having formerly been the Countryside Agency) and for Wales it is Natural Resources Wales (which took over the role from its predecessor body, Countryside Council for Wales).
Designated coastline 1,057 km of the English coastline and 495 km of the Welsh coastline, in both cases approximately one-third of the total length, have been defined as heritage coast. The goal is to conserve their natural beauty and improve accessibility for visitors.
Unlike national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), the heritage coast designation is non-statutory, and designations can only be made with the agreement of local authorities and landowners. However, the majority of heritage coast falls within statutorily designated landscapes such as national parks, AONBs and the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. These coincident designations are listed in the fourth column of the tables below. Designations for nature conservation (as opposed to landscape, e.g. SSSI, Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area) of parts of Heritage Coasts are too numerous and complex to easily list here.
The southern coast of Wales and Devon and Cornwall in south west England have more heritage coastline per mile than other regions, including over 50% of the coast between Cardiff and St Davids, about 55-60% of Cornwall's coast, and around 60-65% of Devon's coast. This contrasts with the coasts of North West England, where St Bees Head is the only heritage coast, or the south-east stretch of the English Channel which has only very sporadic stretches.
The first heritage coast was Beachy Head with its famous white cliffs.
List of heritage coasts
England Heritage coasts listed clockwise around the English coast from Northumberland: Heritage coast name County (or equivalent)Defined lengthCoincident designationsNorthumberland Northumberland Durham Durham None North Yorkshire and Cleveland North Yorkshire, Redcar and Cleveland Mostly within North York Moors National Park Flamborough Headland East Riding of Yorkshire None Spurn East Riding of Yorkshire Natural England, East Riding of Yorkshire's National Nature Reserves (NNRs), updated 21 September 2023, accessed 27 May 2024 North Norfolk Norfolk Suffolk Suffolk South Foreland Kent Dover-Folkestone Kent Sussex Sussex South Downs National Park Tennyson Isle of Wight Isle of Wight AONB Hamstead Isle of Wight Isle of Wight AONB Purbeck Dorset Dorset AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site Dorset Dorset AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site East Devon Devon East Devon AONB, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site South Devon Devon Rame Head Cornwall 7.6 km Gribbin Head-Polperro Cornwall 24 km South Devon AONB The Roseland Cornwall 54.2 km The Lizard Cornwall 27 km Isles of Scilly Isles of Scilly Isles of Scilly National Landscape Penwith Cornwall 54 km Godrevy-Portreath Cornwall 9 km St Agnes Cornwall 11 km Trevose Head Cornwall 4 km Pentire Point-Widemouth Cornwall 52 km Hartland Cornwall 11 km Hartland (Devon) Devon 37 km Lundy Devon None North Devon Devon North Devon AONB Exmoor Somerset St. Bees Head Cumbria
Wales Heritage coasts listed clockwise around Welsh coast from southeast: Heritage coast name Unitary authority area(s)Defined lengthCoincident designationsGlamorgan Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend 21.7 km GowerSwansea 55 km Gower AONBSouth PembrokeshirePembrokeshire 66.0 km National ParkMarloes and DalePembrokeshire 43.3 km National ParkSt Brides Bay Pembrokeshire 8.0 km National ParkSt Davids PeninsulaPembrokeshire 82.0 km National ParkDinas Head Pembrokeshire 17.7 km National ParkSt Dogmaels and Moylgrove Pembrokeshire22.5 km National ParkCeredigion Ceredigion 33.8 km Llŷn Gwynedd 88.3 km Llŷn AONB Aberffraw Bay Isle of Anglesey 7.7 km Anglesey AONB Holyhead Mountain Isle of Anglesey 12.9 km Anglesey AONBNorth Anglesey Isle of Anglesey 28.6 km Anglesey AONBGreat Orme Conwy 7.1 km
References