Call to Action: Shifting Legal Precedents and the Threat to Outdoor Access
While the immediate focus of this new licensing restriction is on coasteering at Ceibwr Bay, the broader strategy driving it represents a significant shift toward heavily restricting access for all outdoor activities. Over 30 years ago, our community was forward-thinking enough to establish robust codes of conduct and sustainable management practices. We have proven that we can balance our activities with conservation, using our platform to educate and inspire the next generation to respect and protect the outdoors.
However, recently disclosed legal and community documents show that the goalposts are being fundamentally shifted. Below are key snapshot sections from the attached briefing that detail the changing arguments and the explicit strategy to strip providers of their voice:
- The Shifting Legal Argument: In defending against a legal claim by Adventure Beyond in September 2026, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority (PCNPA) shifted its stance away from statutory duties, arguing instead that as a landlord, it doesn't have to justify its decisions: “the exercise of a private property right as leaseholder... not the exercise of a statutory discretion.” If an authority can exclude an operator from public land simply because "they are the landlord" without needing to justify it, no outdoor activity is safe.
- The Push to Strip Providers of a Voice: Local community letters explicitly state that “the current PMC [Pembrokeshire Marine Code] allows adventure providers and boat operators to continue shaping management rules for their benefit. This influence has gone on for too long...” and demand to “prevent further influence by commercial operators over conservation rules.”
- Defunding Common Representation: PCNPA internal papers reveal an active consideration to “move away from funding PCF [Pembrokeshire Coastal Forum]” once licensing is in place, effectively silencing the coordinated voice that providers currently rely on.
- Moving from Mitigation to Total Prohibition: The campaign's legal test is no longer whether impacts can be managed, but whether any activity can occur without absolute perfection: “Management alone is no longer the legal test... Only by prohibiting coasteering can future monitoring accurately capture genuine ecological recovery.” They openly view this as an opportunity to establish a “model permanent exclusion zone.”
If we do not stand together now as an outdoor community, this regulatory model will quickly expand from coasteering to canoeing, kayaking, climbing, hill walking, surfing, and field studies. If we let this happen without standing strong and asking the hard questions collectively, it will soon be too late to protect our industry and the future generations who rely on us to experience the wild.
Please read the attached briefing, ask these hard questions to the authorities directly, and share this widely within your networks.
Get Involved:
If you would like to be more involved in this effort, please reply directly to this email. We need to build a stronger, united voice—our current representation models are simply not doing this for us.
Coasteering Providers Briefing paper
