Natural England is the body charged with making the newly announced Marine and Coastal Access Act a reality. DEFRA the section of Natural England dealing with the implementation of the Act has put out this announcement about it. Click here for details.

Regarding timetables - from the DEFRA announcement you will see that a consultaion exercise has started to help decide a Scheme before any implementation of coastal access provisions can begin. Once the Scheme is in place, Natural England will work with Dorset County Council on delivering the very first stretch of the new coastal route – a short section of coast at Weymouth Bay. This will be completed in time for the Olympic sailing events held there in 2012..
Natural England has also identified 5 other lead coastal areas where they plan to start delivering new and improved access – Kent, Somerset, Norfolk, Cumbria and East Riding.
This stage is expected to start within 12 months of the Scheme being approved by the Secretary of State.