Why we need a bespoke approach to ‘Levelling-Up’ our Coastal Communities.

Coastal Communities in the United Kingdom are often hit hardest when an economic crisis strikes. Often large parts of their economies are centred around the hospitality industry. Sadly, many communities' past glories as ‘go-to’ holiday destinations are long behind them and in need of some TLC. It is clear that coastal towns and cities must utilise their assets to adapt and thrive. Successive interference by central government has produced mixed results. Many have been left with the question: Will the Levelling-up Fund be any different? 

Currently, over 5.3 million residents live in coastal towns within England and Wales, and not forgetting the large coastal communities in Scotland and Northern Ireland too. Many settlements around the British Isles have suffered from years of little economic growth due to several factors including peripheral locations, out-of-date transport links, poor innovation, and a lack of diversification in the local economy for a myriad of reasons.

It's no surprise that seaside areas have higher shares of self-employment and part-time employment than those not by the coast as well as a lower share of residents with degree-level qualifications. With 71% of coastal areas having both slower population and employment growth than average for England and Wales.

Many have turned the blame on the government of the time and have said policymakers fail to understand each coastal communities' unique characteristics when allocating and awarding funding.

Understandably, previous funds have centred on an area's average house price to income ratio, infrastructure, business innovation, and the impact of universities when deliberating on which areas are in most need. This can make things easier on paper, but such approaches aren't always fit-for-purpose. Take Cornwall for example, where the average home costs 10.99 times average earnings. How can civil servants in Whitehall appropriately target funding in places with such economic disparity hundreds of miles away and without an understanding of the local area?

Despite this, some areas weather an economic storm better than others. Brighton & Hove and even my home city of Portsmouth are examples of coastal areas that have not witnessed the same magnitude of longer-term economic decline compared to areas like Hastings and Grimsby. They have had forward thinking politicians, often Conservatives at the helm of the regeneration and re-positioning of the local economies.

The Levelling-Up Fund seems to want to learn from past failures with the goal that "government can visibly deliver against the diverse needs of all places and all geographies."

It's all well and good talking the talk, in 2022, we need the government to ‘walk the walk’. Statistics show that between 2009 and 2018, 50% of coastal towns have had a decline in employment compared with 37% of non-coastal towns. We now have the opportunity to grasp this problem head on, but we must be diligent and not ‘miss the boat’, so to speak.

I believe for the Levelling-UP fund to be successful for coastal communities, the UK government must not be afraid to work more directly with Local Authorities across the four nations of the United Kingdom. They are best placed to understand the needs of their local area and are far more closely aligned to the economic needs on the ground than Whitehall staff in London assessing digital applications for a slice of the fund.

Furthermore, applications to the Levelling-Up Fund must address the old reliance on traditional tourism for economic output in coastal communities. Regeneration is an ambitious task, and it is important to avoid relying on one sector. In general, each application must diversify an area's economy first and look to stimulate other areas too: Applications made to the Levelling-Up Fund should also develop alternative industries and sectors for the future to create job growth. It should also look to build resilience that will help those communities to better weather any economic downturn and cuts in local government spending too.

It is welcome news that the government has said that they "recognise that levelling up requires a multi-faceted approach and the Fund is delivered as part of a broad package of complementary UK-wide interventions". 

This combined approach aims to be different, and I hope, that the Levelling-up Fund will help to improve every day life for people across the United Kingdom: for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, to achieve this aim, the government must better-bring Local Authorities along for the ride and listen to the unique needs of each community. The investment, when right could ignite a costal economic revolution that looks to build long term prosperity and a more diverse UK coastline: helping the people who live there and to truly ‘level-up.’

Sources: ONS and Gov.uk for sources