Scarborough and Whitby 'not falling behind rest of the UK's coastline' - MP
Sir Robert Goodwill says there's a lot of things in the area that are making people stay
The MP for Scarborough and Whitby says people should not talk the Yorkshire Coast down.
Sir Robert Goodwill says there is a lot of good things in this area which are now making people stay.
It is after new research says communities on the UK's coastline have fallen behind the rest of the country.
Robert said: "I think the first thing to say about Scarborough and in particular Whitby is that we've bucked the trend compared to other coastal resorts like Cleethorpes, Skegness and Blackpool where they really have been left behind. Whitby's booming 12 months of the year and Scarborough's the second most visited place after London in the country.
"We do have jobs in the area and we've had help from the Government as we've had the town team bids for both Scarborough and Whitby. It was disappointing that we didn't get the Levelling Up Fund bid accepted recently but there's another opportunity in the summer, and I'll be pressing ministers to have a look at that to make sure we're getting that particular help.
"There are advantages to living out on the coast. For example, house prices are relatively modest compared to some of the big cities, even places like York, but certainly London and the South East. You can get a decent flat in Scarborough for around £100,000 so if you've got two earners in the household, there's no reason why they can't get on the housing ladder.
"People who come to Scarborough tend to stay and they love it there. Yes, we do need to give more help to Scarborough and let's hope we get the bid accepted the second time round. But I think we need to be careful we don't talk the area down because there's a lot of great things going on in Scarborough, a lot of exciting things to do, we've got some good schools and great opportunities.
"We need more degree-level jobs. One of the Government policies is to try and bring more Government jobs out of the capital, out of the South East, and I'm hoping that we can look at some opportunities in Scarborough to bring some civil servants up to the area. I know there are plans to bring some civil servants to York but people who work in the city often can live in Scarborough and they have the best of both worlds there."
MPs are to press for more Government help for coastal communities as it could unlock their potential by adjusting its Levelling Up policy.
The study was commissioned by the Coastal Communities Alliance, the Local Government Association Coastal Special Interest Group and the Coastal Partnerships Network from Pragmatix Advisory.
Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coastal Communities discussed the report’s findings, and the need for investment to address the unfair disparities between coastal and non-coastal parts of Britain.
Sally-Ann Hart MP, chair of the group, told the meeting: “If we give our coastal communities the right focus and support the opportunities are boundless…rather than coastal communities being a problem they are actually an important resource for the United Kingdom.
“The need for long term funding is key because our coastal communities have challenges which have become entrenched over decades – there isn’t a quick fix.”
You can read the full report on the coastal communities website.