Around 10 per cent of the UK’s population lives in coastal towns and cities - places that face distinct regeneration challenges of their own and which are sometimes literally and figuratively at the end of the line.
Many of our coastal towns are attractive places to live and work, featuring scenic beauty alongside great architecture and a rich Victorian and Edwardian history.
Yet numerous studies have charted decades of decline in these communities and caution that the people living in them have for too long felt isolated, unsupported and left behind.
Advocates of what can be achieved point out that seaside towns and coastal heritage represent one of Britain’s greatest assets.
A single solution to their economic and social challenges doesn't exist. What is needed is a package of strategic initiatives and interventions where national and local government work together to address issues such as transport, housing, post-school education and high-speed broadband."
They believe that for ‘levelling-up’ policies to have meaning, policy and investment should not just be directed at rebalancing the economy across the long standing North-South divide, but also look closely at what’s happening around the margins of our country.
It follows that people who live in coastal communities deserve the same sense of opportunities that are afforded to people living elsewhere.
One of the most influential reports, a 2019 House of Lords Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns, spelt out the challenge.
The Chairman of the Committee, Lord Bassam of Brighton, said: "A single solution to their economic and social challenges doesn't exist. What is needed is a package of strategic initiatives and interventions where national and local government work together to address issues such as transport, housing, post-school education and high-speed broadband."
The report makes the distinction between coastal towns and cities that are partly sustained by the conference industry or large student populations, such as Blackpool and Brighton, and those often smaller communities where the economy is more impacted by seasonal tourism.
Blackpool is just one UK example of an economy affected by seasonal tourism
The East of England has more than its share of towns that fall into this latter category.
Many of the towns in the arc from Felixstowe to Kings Lynn, for example, share similar regeneration challenges to those facing adjacent counties such as the Essex coast or even further afield in areas as far apart as the South West and North East.
We gathered together a group of experts to discuss how they are approaching the regeneration challenge.
Our intention is to open the playbook for economic and social recovery from the pandemic in these areas. Great Yarmouth, in particular, is riding a wave of resurgence and considered an exemplar of what a forward-thinking, ambitious leadership can achieve. The town has already attracted significant government investment and been nominated as ‘Council of the Year’ by local government media. We wanted to find out what other seaside towns can learn from its experience.
Cllr Carl Smith | Leader, Great Yarmouth Borough Council Sheila Oxtoby | CEO, Great Yarmouth Borough Council Chris Sargisson | CEO, Norfolk Chambers David Dukes | Head of Inward Investment, New Anglia LEP Iain Hill | Partner, Bidwells Peter Whitmore, | Regional MD, Morgan Sindall Construction Alister Broadberry | Area Director, Morgan Sindall Construction Warren Salmons | BDM, Morgan Sindall Construction Chris Hulme | Director, Influential (Chair)
