Abstract
IN a paper to Section E (Geography) of the British Association at Norwich on September 5, Dr. Vaughan Cornish directed attention to the menace afforded by private enclosure to the best of the cliff scenery of England and Wales. Of the 1,800 miles of coast line, about five hundred are cliff land, of which more than three hundred miles are in Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. For the most part, the cliff edge is still accessible to the pedestrian, but too often the landward side has been enclosed and thus the full enjoyment of the view is impaired. Dr. Cornish calculates that 40,000 houses would line the whole of the five hundred miles, and believes that with the present rate and spread of building it will not be many years before much of the cliffs will be enclosed. He advocates the public acquisition under the Town and Country Planning Act, supplemented if possible by other funds, of a strip of land 110 yards wide along all the cliffs. This would amount in all to 20,000 acres and the purchase figure would be approximately £2,000,000. Thus, for a relatively small cost the finest scenic treasures of the country would be preserved.
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Preservation of Cliff Scenery. Nature 136, 637 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136637d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136637d0