Data shows seaside towns falling behind, as new funding announced

Britain’s coastal areas are among the worst-performing in terms of pay, unemployment, education and health, according to a new report by the Social Market Foundation.

Ten of the bottom 20 local authorities in terms of GVA were in coastal communities, including Anglesey, Gosport and South Tyneside.

And the economic gap between coastal and non-coastal areas has grown in the last ten years, the data shows. In 1997 GVA per head in coastal places was 23% lower than in non-coastal places. By 2015 – the latest data available – this gap had grown to 26%.

Five of the ten local authorities in Great Britain with the lowest average employee pay are in coastal communities, with Scarborough, North Norfolk and Blackpool among the bottom ten.

Half of the local authorities with the highest unemployment rates in the country are on the coast, with Hartlepool and north Ayrshire at 11%, and Copeland at 9.6%.

While economic and social deprivation in seaside areas has been much talked about, with many coastal places voting for Brexit, there has been little hard data on the issue. This report by the Social Market Foundation, called Living on the Edge: coastal communities, aims to fill in the gaps and better understand the challenges of seaside towns.

Today the government announced a £40m funding pot to help coastal areas create jobs, opening in early 2018.

Jake Berry, minister for coastal communities said: ‘From the world-renowned Blackpool illuminations to Brighton’s i360, our coastal towns and cities have a lot to offer all year round.

‘That’s why we’re backing them with another £40m of government funding, helping to boost economic growth and create jobs.’

Health and education are also falling behind in coastal areas, with local authority data for England and Wales showing that, of the 20 areas with the highest proportion of individuals with poor health, half are on the coast. The seaside areas of Great Yarmouth and Castle Point have the lowest proportion of people with higher education qualifications in England and Wales, the data shows.

Photo by ijclark