Editing Heritage coast (section)

==Designated coastline==
1,057&nbsp;km of the English [[UK coastline|coastline]] and 495&nbsp;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 of England and Wales|national parks]] and [[Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty in England and Wales|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.