A New Statesman article by two leading University of Plymouth researchers is shining a light on causes of deprivation in coastal communities.
Co-Directors of our Centre for Coastal Communities, Professor Sheela Agarwal and Professor Sheena Asthana aim to raise awareness of issues that are not well understood currently.
They write that there was a time when coastal towns were synonymous with the good times: families would flock to many of them in their droves during the British summer holidays. Others were blessed with thriving small ports, or fishing and shipbuilding industries that employed entire towns and sustained positive identities. But many have suffered a long period of decline. The rise of cheap foreign travel has reduced their pull as holiday destinations, and globalisation has affected patterns of work and seen the slow dwindling of the old jobs that were a source of local pride.
Levelling up narratives have so far centred around north-versus-south or urban-versus-rural, with little attention given to specific challenges faced by coastal communities. A chronic lack of investment has caused a litany of issues across employment, education, health, and overall prosperity.
The article goes on to describe how residents in coastal towns and cities face poorer job prospects due to seasonal part-time work lowering productivity. Educational outcomes for younger people are more limited with access to Higher Education and online learning opportunities a major concern. Digital exclusion and a lack of connectivity due to poor internet and mobile signal coverage are widening these existing inequalities further by reducing the ability for those in coastal areas to access vital services. As such, these areas are struggling to attract knowledge-based industries, such as the tech sector, which are linked to higher salaries and productivity.
When considering health, rates of mental illness, heart disease and kidney disease are roughly 10 per cent higher than the national average, alongside prevalence of smoking, drug use, loneliness and obesity. Digital immaturity across health services is a big problem in coastal communities and means that patients are missing out on early diagnostic tools that could keep them out of hospital and living at home for longer.
While cities such as London and Manchester gallop ahead in areas such as prevention health and social mobility, rural and coastal areas are stagnating.
Professors Asthana and Agarwal conclude that while we appreciate our coast’s scenic beauty, we must not forget the challenges faced by the people who live there. To truly reduce regional inequalities, we need to see greater parity of esteem between cities and coastal areas. Otherwise, deprivation gaps will only widen.
This article is adapted from a piece published in the New Statesman dated 18 August 2023. Read the story in full (subscription required).
