FEARS that cliffs at Minehead's North Hill could become a jumping off point for people wanting to end their lives have been flagged by West Somerset's MP.

Branding Government plans to allow unrestricted access to West Somerset's coastline "mindless political correctness" in a late-night debate in the House of Commons on Monday, local MP Ian Liddell-Grainger said: "North Hill is not cordoned off and there is no barbed wire.

"Somerset County Council does not actively encourage people to go climbing.

"But with unrestricted access, the council might have to fence off a special walkway and then would become legally liable for every tiny tumble.

"It is a long drop to the beach, hundreds of feet."

Referring to the famous cliffs on the Sussex coast, a favourite site for suicide attempts, he added: "I do not want Minehead to turn into Beachy Head.

"I do not want accidents, incidents or stupid decisions."

He also highlighted problems of access around Hinkley Point nuclear power station.

He said: "The Government is debating building perhaps one, or two new power stations there.

"It is slap-bang on the coast, for obvious reasons, and nobody, especially in these days of terrorist threats, wants to provide unrestricted access."

Jonathan Shaw Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said Natural England would provide funding to maintain structures required for access.

He said: "Natural England has estimated that 30% of the English coast lacks any secure access rights for the public, and a further 20% has a jumble of different access rights, which can create an unpleasant, and indeed unsafe, experience.

"People do not have the right to go along the whole coast. We must change that, and we made a manifesto commitment to do so."

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said the proposals were still at the consultation stage.

"It's unlikely we would be fencing off a coast path.

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