A new report - ‘Communities on the edge’ – has been published into the need for Levelling Up of England’s coastal areas.
Commissioned by the Coastal Communities Alliance (including Lincolnshire County Council, North East Lincolnshire Council and the Greater Lincolnshire LEP), the report can be found here Coastal Communities Alliance - Coastal Communities.
Cllr Colin Davie, executive councillor for economy at the county council, said:
“The Lincolnshire coast is a fabulous place to live and it should be no surprise that many people choose to live and work here and enjoy fulfilling lives.
"The challenges our coastal areas face are well documented, most recently in the annual report from our director of public health. Lower than average incomes, poor access to health and care services, poor quality and unaffordable housing and lack of connectivity, remain key issues.
“This report not only reinforces those challenges, but also the need for fairer funding for counties like ours. We have long campaigned for this in Lincolnshire, where we have a large coastline but also many rural communities, and delivering public services can be difficult and expensive.
"A formula for allocating government funding that reflects this in the long-term, is essential to enable future services to be good quality and sustainable.
“I firmly believe that our coastal area is full of potential. I welcome the opportunities presented for growth and prosperity, and we are working hard to support businesses with the infrastructure they need, and to help them benefit from growing areas such as green tourism and renewable energy.”
Pat Doody, Chair of the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership, said:
“While we have progressed and seen some fantastic developments on the Greater Lincolnshire coast over the last decade, we welcome the recommendations in this illuminating report for a fundamental governmental step change in the strategic approach to the Levelling Up of our coastal communities, bringing long-term funding commitments in order to achieve equal opportunity and advantage to enable these unique destinations to flourish economically.”