NEWS
Report { COASTAL COMMUNITIES
Levelling up on the coast By Laura Edgar
The current Conservative government was elected on its pledge to address regional inequality and to level up the country. Yet much of the talk has been focused inland and on the North: improving east-to-west connections on the train; revitalising high streets and town centres; creating better job opportunities; and the retention of skilled workers. To these ends, areas across England have been supported through various government funds, such as the £3.6 billion Towns Fund and the Future High Streets Fund. But what of coastal communities? According to ONS data from October 2020, towns on English and Welsh coasts are more likely to suffer from higher levels of deprivation than noncoastal towns. Two in every three (67 per cent) coastal towns are bracketed in the higher income deprivation category, whether as ‘working towns’ (high job density) or residential towns (low job density), compared with just over one in every three (36 per cent) non-coastal towns. Eighty-five per cent of towns on the east coast of England – 39 out of 46 towns spanning the East of England, East Midlands, Yorkshire, the Humber and the North East – are in the higher income deprivation category. On England’s north-west coast the numbers are 16 out of 21. A bid for Towns Fund money made by East Lindsey District Council (Lincolnshire) is instructive. The council’s area includes the coastal communities of Skegness and Mablethorpe. In planning its bid, the council found that these towns have high levels of deprivation, health inequalities and low wages (caused by the seasonal nature of the coastal
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The reasons why areas such as Mablethorpe and South Shields (far right) are being ‘left behind’ include low levels of social mobility, lack of available further education, low skills, or declining industries
or similar for the coast. It is also difficult to travel between areas. The focus therefore wasn’t just on post-16 education, but lifelong learning”. The Town Investment Plan – Skegness states that East Lindsey has the second-highest proportion of 16-to-18-year-olds in England living more than 30 minutes from a further education or sixth-form college (DfE). The flagship project, a learning campus in partnership with further education provider TEC Group, seeks to Focus on youth address this, with a planned 56 per cent East Lindsey’s assistant director Lydia of Towns Fund money being allocated Rusling told The Planner that the to this problem. The Mablethorpe Town council and its partners had chosen Investment Plan features to focus on skills a campus for future living, and education. Rusling explains, with the Businesses canvassed ‘CENTRAL TO focus on improving health during the bid ANY SUCCESS IS and wellbeing, attracting spoke of problems THE NEED FOR medical professionals and in employing local A JOINT LONGretaining them. people with the TERM, STRATEGIC In the 2021 Budget, necessary skills. APPROACH chancellor Rishi Sunak “East Lindsey has FROM CENTRAL allocated Connected disparate further GOVERNMENT IN Coast £48.4 million education,” said TERMS OF BOTH – £23.9 million for Rusling. “Lincoln POLICY AND Mablethorpe and £24.5 has universities, but FUNDING” – million for Skegness. there isn’t a college JOHN SPARKES economy, and now exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic). To support the Skegness and Mablethorpe bid, Connected Coast was established, with the board seeking to diversify their economies, expand their skills base and establish them as national test beds for future living and natural resource management. The board comprises professionals from the public and private sectors.
