Quote rabert, .... "I contacted the Crown Estate re the 'halt' on their Permit registration procedures. They say they have "retired" their permit system while they address some technical difficulties with the registration process. (

?) - and can detect freely on foreshore and to read the conditions."
I was under the impression you`d solved your uncertainty about detecting on beaches by the above ?
Crown estate managed beaches are marked in purple . Any other beaches are not, if not marked in purple .
I would go out on a limb and suggest that the majority of beach searchers do not go to any lengths to detect on beaches by obtaining permissions off crown permits . They simply just go.
There are few if any one that will contest your presence as they havn`t the manpower to enforce this. I`ve detected on beaches for on and off 40 years and never once have I asked about crown permits and never once have I been approached and questioned by anyone while detecting on them . There just isn`t the manpower to send some one out walking around looking for some one detecting when they could be doing something much more useful and important enough other jobs ,and with the job cuts around today its even more unlikely to ever be enforced .
There are a fair few on forums that have done beaches, and there are those who do next to no beaches, and the ones that are giving you advise are more likely than not the ones that havn`t done much beach work. But still persist in giving you useless information that really doesn`t apply in the real world. Your newness to detecting can be enlightened by the knowledge that If you decided to do beach work to just go ahead and do it. IF you did (highly unlikely) get approached by some jobs worth, the worst that could happen is that you`d simply be asked to stop.& IF they could produce some paperwork to prove their validity of authority then and only
then would you need to comply . But again I say its highly, highly unlikely that you would ever be approached.
If you do think you`d like to try beach work then my suggestion is just go ahead and do it, like most others do and don`t be afraid of the bogey man or scare mongers. Its not ever going to be in the bracket as if you`d be committing any terrible sin is it ?