Britain’s coastal communities among worst performing areas

Britain’s coastal communities are among the worst ranked parts of the country across a range of economic and social indicators, and the economic gap between coastal and non-coastal communities has grown.

The Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank has published new analysis of economic and social data at a local authority level.

It found that five of the 10 local authorities in Great Britain with the lowest average employee pay are in coastal communities: Torbay, North Devon, Gwynedd, Hastings and Torridge.

It also found that in 2016, the average employee pay was about £3,600 per annum lower in coastal communities than in other parts of Great Britain, and that five of the 10 local authorities with the highest unemployment rate were coastal communities, for three months to March 2017: Hartlepool, North Ayrshirem Torridge, Hastings, South Tyneside and Sunderland.

Ten of the twenty local authorities in England and Wales with the highest proportion of individuals in poor health are coastal communities, the analysis revealed, which are Neath Port Talbot, Blackpool, Bridgend, Sunderland, Barrow-in-Furness, Carmarthenshire, East Lindsey, South Tyneside, County Durham and Hartlepool.

The think tank also found that the two local authorities in England and Wales with the smallest proportion of 16+ population holding level 4 and above qualifications are Great Yarmouth and Castle Point, and that in 1997, economic output (GVA) per capita was 23 per cent in Great Britain’s coastal communities compared with non-coastal. By 2015, this gap had widened to 26 per cent.

The SMF defined a coastal community as a local authority area with a coastal border for the analysis.

Scott Corfe, SMF chief economist and report author, said: “The economies of many coastal towns have performed poorly relative to the rest of the country, with a lack of well-paid job opportunities for people in these areas.

“Many coastal communities are poorly connected to major employment centres in the UK, which compounds the difficulties faced by residents in these areas. Not only do they lack local job opportunities, but travelling elsewhere for work is also relatively difficult.

“Despite the evident social and economic problems which these places face, there is currently no official definition of a ‘coastal community’. The government needs to do more to track – and address – economic problems in our coastal towns.

“Particularly in the South East, some coastal communities are pockets of significant deprivation surrounded by affluence – meaning their problems are often overlooked by policymakers.”