Centre for Coastal Communities, University of Plymouth – Written evidence (RST0004)

Authors:  

Professor Sheela Agarwal [https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/sheela-agarwal]

Professor Sheena Asthana [https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/sheena-asthana]

Dr Alex Gibson [https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/staff/alex-gibson]

About the Authors:

The authors are part of the Centre for Coastal Communities [CfCC] at the University of Plymouth [https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/coastal-communities]. The CfCC is the leading research centre in the country that focuses on finding policy solutions to the socio-economic, political, and cultural challenges facing coastal communities. It consists of a critical mass of researchers with a proven track record of research on coastal communities, with expertise in coastal economic performance, deprivation, migration, educational underperformance, displaced populations, health and social care, the blue economy, spatial design, digital inclusivity, education, creative media, plastic pollution, economic, social, and environmental policy, and heritage for coastal communities. It has strong collaborative links with key stakeholders in the public, private and third sectors.

Introduction:

As members of the University of Plymouth’s Centre for Coastal Communities, we are submitting this evidence as we are uniquely placed to advise on the challenges facing coastal communities across Britain and more specifically in the Southwest of England, and how these link to the Levelling Up agenda. Our evidence shows:

• Many coastal communities are characterised by a complex web of inter-linked social, economic and cultural challenges, with productivity, health and educational outcomes especially amongst children and young people living in ‘lagging’ localities continuing to be poor since the 2019 House of Lords Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns and Coastal Communities;
• There is a diversity of experience with some ‘leading’ and some ‘lagging’ English seaside towns and coastal communities that defies traditional understandings of a north-south divide;
• The current policy framework is hampered by a lack of understanding and availability of a coherent evidence base of the problems and potential solutions experienced by English seaside towns and coastal communities, as well as by its political administrative geography which inhibits shared learning and policy development;
• Allocation of government funding to seaside towns and coastal communities lacks transparency; and,
• There are a range of key policy changes required including: the launch of a national coastal strategy and evidenced-based policy unit; the design and implementation of place- and people-based interventions; funding and investment of transport, digital, and socio-cultural infrastructures; greater legislative control of second home ownership and houses of multiple occupation; the building of a future talent pipeline through the raising of aspirations and motivations and up-skilling the workforce, particularly amongst children and young people; and, the creation of coastal digital health hubs.

What are the most fundamental changes that seaside and coastal communities have faced since the publication of the Committee's report? What impact have these brought about? 

A wealth of evidence exists pointing to the significantly worsening economic, social, and cultural challenges in some English and Welsh ‘lagging’ seaside and coastal communities since the publication of the Committee’s report. The Office of National Statistics (2020) study of 169 coastal towns in England and Wales[1] revealed that when compared with non-coastal towns, they were characterised by: slower population growth and decline in almost one in three smaller seaside towns between 2009 and 2018; a decline in employment; higher shares of self- and part-time employment; a lower share of residents with degree-level qualifications; and higher numbers of residents aged over 65 years old. 

More recent analysis of 2021 census data compounds the pervasiveness of the challenges faced.  For example, average earnings continue to differ between coastal and non-coastal towns and cities as illustrated by a comparison of the average gross annual pay (£) for all employee jobs in 2021 across all coastal and non-coastal local authorities.  Although such data should be viewed with caution given its availability only for local authority areas that do not always align with town boundaries, it clearly shows that all coastal local authorities except those in England’s northwest exhibited an average difference in average gross annual pay, ranging from -£249 in Wales to -£16,247 in the East, when compared with their non-coastal counterparts (ONS, 2022)[2]. At the same time, coastal towns experienced higher increases in house prices than non-coastal towns, particularly in the latter half of 2020 and into early 2021 (ONS, 2021)[3]. This is a reverse of the trend observed over the previous decade, where coastal towns’ median house prices increased by 28.1%, whereas non-coastal increased by 32.1%. Whilst this trend isn’t in itself problematic, when compared with average earnings, there is a stark mismatch between what local people earn and what they can afford to buy, exacerbated by a shortage of affordable houses and high demand from those wishing to relocate and/or embark on second home ownership.  

Other economic indicators reveal continued endemic decline amongst many seaside and coastal communities. Between the period 2018 and 2022, according to the Insolvency Service (2021)[4], coastal local authorities have dominated the rankings for the areas with the highest levels of personal insolvencies in England and Wales, suggesting that the boom in staycations and overseas travel during the Covid years of 2020-21 have brought little benefit. In 2018, six out of the top ten local authorities with the highest levels of personal insolvencies in England and Wales were coastal, with Scarborough, Torbay, Plymouth, Kingston-Upon-Hull, and Blackpool placed in positions two through to six, respectively.  In 2020, eight out of the top ten local authorities with the highest level of insolvencies per 10,000 adults were coastal, with Kingston-Upon-Hull being ranked first, Blackpool second, and Scarborough third. Within the coastal sub-set however, there is diversity of experience and divergent economic pathways evident. Agarwal et al. (2024)[5] demonstrate differential economic performance amongst 58 of England’s largest seaside towns, distinguishing those that are ‘leading’ from those that are ‘lagging’ along with a set of ‘people’ and ‘place’ based socio-economic characteristics associated with the ‘leaders’ and the ‘laggers’.     

Poor health and education outcomes driven by high levels of deprivation also appear to be an endemic feature of many seaside and coastal communities, most recently highlighted by the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO’s) 2021 annual report on Health in Coastal Communities[6].  According to the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation[7], 17% of coastal residents lived in one of the most deprived 10% of Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in the country, up from 14% in 2004. By contrast, only 5.1% of coastal residents live in one of the least deprived 10% of LSOAs. Put another way, 31% of all people living in highly deprived LSOAs live in coastal areas, even though only 19% of the English population live on the coast.  Of these, Blackpool is the most deprived local authority in England.

In terms of health, overall, the prevalence of almost all diseases in the Quality and Outcomes (QOF) dataset are higher in coastal than non-coastal areas, a fact that is only partly explained by deprivation and demography. The evidence ‘suggests that living on the coastal fringe is associated with an increased risk of ill-health’[8]. Indeed, ‘smoking and obesity are more prevalent in coastal areas (19.4% and 10.6% respectively) than in non-coastal areas (17.1% and 9.6%’[9]). Life expectancy, healthy life expectancy and disability free life expectancy are, overall, lower in coastal areas, whilst Standardised Mortality Ratios for a range of conditions, including preventable mortality, are significantly higher[10].

Additionally, there is much evidence to suggest that such poor outcomes are particularly prevalent amongst children and young people. Hospital admissions are of particular concern. In 2018/19, seven out of the 10 LAs with the highest rates of hospital admissions due to self-harm amongst 10 to 24 year olds, were coastal. Blackpool had the highest rate of admissions for substance misuse among 15 to 24 year olds[11]. Recent analysis of Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) data shows per capita admissions for self-harm (10-24 year olds), alcohol-attributed admissions (<18), and drug and alcohol misuse (<18) to be 35%, 45% and 62% higher in coastal Middle Super Output Areas (MSOAs) than non-coastal MSOAs[12]. Educational outcomes also appear to be poorer than expected in coastal communities. GCSE grades are lower in coastal towns and cities than equivalent non-coastal localities[13], whilst white pupils eligible for Free School Meals perform more poorly in coastal areas[14]. The Office for Students data shows that, overall, 36% of pupils living in coastal LSOAs when taking their GCSEs continue into higher education, compared with 42% of pupils living elsewhere[15]. This gap increases with deprivation: 51% v 54% and 26% v 34% for the least and most deprived 20% of LSOAs respectively.

Are the current policy framework and the funding pots available sufficient to meet the needs of coastal areas? 

The government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda emerged as a core part of its strategic ambition to tackle socio-economic inequalities across the UK. It is questionable with the recent political turbulence combined with the prospect of a long, deep-seated recession whether ‘Levelling Up’ will be effective in tackling the issues experienced by those ‘left behind’ coastal communities, many of which are undoubtedly exacerbated COVID-19 and the cost of living and energy crises. This would be disastrous as we know that there has been a profound shift in the pattern of deprivation away from metropolitan cities and towards peripheral coastal areas. Despite this, the many problems facing coastal communities are poorly understood, and it is difficult to see how the ‘levelling’ up of Britain’s periphery is truly achievable without a better understanding of their problems and potential solutions. A lack of understanding is perhaps best evidenced by the fact that 'levelling up' sees this challenge as a north-south as opposed to a peripheral versus central problem. This may in part reflect the choice of variables used to construct the widely used Index of Multiple Deprivation, a metric which dominates empirical policy discourse and which, it has been argued, fails to reflect the nature of coastal as well as rural disadvantage[16],[17].

Of greater significance however is the lack of a coherent evident base enabling detailed understanding and subsequent development of policy. The data that exist are fragmented, partial, un-comparable and out-dated. They focus on one type of coastal area (seaside towns/resorts) and fail to capture what are highly heterogeneous spaces. Evidence on health, educational, business and employment outcomes in coastal communities is, for instance, almost invariably masked by local authority averages. It is not coincidental that accounts of the challenges faced by coastal communities so often refer to Blackpool, Brighton and Torbay because their administrative geographies relate to local authorities that are predominately coastal in character. Additionally, more granular demographic and socio-economic data relating to Lower- and Middle-Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs and MSOAs) and their Scottish equivalents are seldom useful. The lack of a detailed classification of small coastal areas means it is difficult to contextualise such data and, where analyses have been undertaken, e.g. by the ONS, the focus has been on undifferentiated categories such as “larger coastal towns” and “seaside villages”. The former places socio-economically challenged towns such as Skegness and Blackpool into the same category as the thriving seaside town of Bournemouth, whilst the latter conflates vibrant communities such as Bamburgh with highly deprived localities such as Jaywick. This sort of categorisation does little to help us understand why health, educational and other socio-economic outcomes tend to be so poor in coastal areas, and it does not help us focus on the specific factors operating in different localities.

More crucially, seaside towns and coastal communities will often have more in common with populations facing similar circumstances elsewhere in the country than they will with other communities within their local authority. Many ‘lagging’ seaside towns and coastal communities are perhaps better represented as a wicked system of inter-related, long-standing socio-cultural, economic, and environmental challenges, locked in by cumulative self-reinforcing processes[18].  In other words, a singular focus on health, the economy or education is simply not sufficient to provide long lasting policy solutions. Instead, multiply policy entry points are required to tackle such inter-linked issues, but, in order for this to be possible, the need for shared policy development and learning cuts across, and is not well served by, the political and administrative geographies of the country[19].

In addition to the limitations of current policy framework, although there are a variety of funding pots to support seaside and coastal communities, the allocation of such resources is not transparent, and therefore it is not widely known how much has been awarded to those seaside and coastal communities that are ‘lagging’, and why some have received funding whilst others have not. We agree with a recent ONWARD report (2021) which found that there needed to be a focus on the Southwest, a region often absent from contemporary discourse on levelling up[20]. Yet, substantive levelling up funds have been focused on the Southeast, a region that already benefits from its promixity to London and good transport links.    

What key policy changes should be implemented to better support seaside towns and communities?

Policy changes required to address the needs of the UK’s seaside towns and coastal communities must first and foremost respect their disparate geographies and lack of political and organisational cohesion[21]. The launch of a national coastal strategy and evidence-based policy unit would address these barriers and help overcome the challenge of working across different levels of administration, multiple government departments and a variety of non-governmental stakeholders. All have their own priorities and are constrained by their own (tightly defended) funding envelopes. Such a unit would be tasked with ensuring policy makers collaborate across portfolio boundaries to advance the needs of coastal communities.

Policies and interventions which tackle place- and people- based challenges are also required. Targeted, tailored, and focused interventions driven by different objectives, priorities and tools are needed, which are reflective of the particular needs of specific coastal communities. In terms of a place-based approach, with Britain’s departure from the European Union and the loss of access to European Structural funds, never has there been a greater need for the funding and investment of transport, digital, and socio-cultural infrastructures to address peripherality and low productivity and attract knowledge- and creative-based industries and skilled workers. Greater legislative control must be exercised over second home ownership and houses of multiple occupation so that good quality, affordable housing may be provided for those living and working in coastal communities. 

With respect to people-based interventions, there are policy opportunities to raise aspirations and motivations and up-skill the workforce, particularly amongst children and young people to build a future talent pipeline. Such action should be holistic in nature and target educational outcomes at all levels of childhood development and focus on family structures and career development and progression.  Meanwhile health outcomes might be addressed through the creation of coastal digital health hubs to facilitate innovation, development and adoption of technologies and data processing for healthcare beyond the hospital, particularly in areas that are digitally immature, and which have demographically older and geographically dispersed populations.

Local devolution is widely touted as the most appropriate framework to implementation such strategies, however, their institutional and financial capacities to tackle such inter-linked, complex issues is questionable. We agree with the arguments presented by Di Cataldo et al. (2021)[22] who state that ‘levelling up policy efforts will fail if not properly complemented by the right macro-economic policies, and by a coherent distribution of public investment’.

6 March 2023

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