Wish you were here? In recent years the fate of coastal towns has emerged as one of Britain’s most pressing social issues. Both the fishing and domestic tourism industries have been in decline for decades. Seaside communities routinely find themselves at the wrong end of national league tables when it comes to deprivation, job opportunities, educational attainment and mental and physical health.
As the Guardian’s new reporting project on young people in coastal towns makes clear, the result for many 16- to 25-year-olds is acute frustration combined with the pressure of unwanted dilemmas. Most remain fiercely loyal to places whose geographic isolation tends to generate a strong sense of belonging. But getting out to get on is, too often, perceived as the only option. The steady stream of departures in turn takes away skills and youthful dynamism, further diminishing the prospects of those left behind.
Those growing up amid the natural beauty and social challenges of Britain’s coastal communities deserve better. But as one recent study points out, the failure of past regeneration strategies suggests that a political rethink is necessary. Successful urban transformation projects, such as the re-imagining of Liverpool’s post-industrial waterfront, will not map on to smaller places unable to tap global investment possibilities. Similarly, the scale of the culture-led revival of Margate – sparked by the opening of the Turner Contemporary gallery in 2011 – is out of reach for most towns, particularly those further away from London.
Over the course of the next year, the Guardian will continue to canvass young people on what can be done to build better futures in Britain’s post-industrial port towns and hard-pressed seaside resorts. But one early conclusion can already be drawn: unleashing the energy, imagination and local pride of the young can be a vital catalyst for positive change.
In Blackpool, for example, where 28% of the population were classed as economically inactive last year, a small-scale dance club founded in 2006 has evolved into a multi-purpose arts hub, offering direction and myriad activities to hundreds of teenagers. Its co-founder told the Guardian: “The optics are all wrong. You need to show young people that there are people in town doing creative, inspiring things.”
Writ large, that approach would mean sustained, gamechanging investment in social capital as well as physical infrastructure. The benefits of the offshore wind revolution have yet to make a significant impact to the economic prospects of towns such as Great Yarmouth or Newhaven. Much more needs to be done to ensure that young people have access to the skills that will allow them to take advantage of the shift to renewable energy. In seaside resorts, where the interests of free-spending tourists are prioritised and work dries up out of season, the closure of local youth clubs and cuts to other leisure facilities have deepened a sense of neglect and abandonment.
For too long, the struggles of communities with rich histories and a powerful sense of identity have languished near the bottom of Westminster priorities. “Growing up, I was always told to get out of Grimsby,” one young respondent told our reporters. With the right mix of long-term investment and empowerment in our coastal towns, it doesn’t need to be that way.