Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by South Tyneside Council (CT 38)

INTRODUCTION

  The Borough of South Tyneside is located in northeast England and is bounded to the north by the River Tyne and to the east by the North Sea. South Tyneside Council is a metropolitan local authority undertaking a comprehensive range of local governance and community leadership functions; a number of which are directly relevant to and/or influenced by the coastal nature of the Borough.

  This short submission to the Coastal Towns Inquiry is intended to exemplify some of the issues that are faced by coastal communities.

CONTEXT

  The Borough has a rich industrial heritage, intrinsically linked to its coastal location, and most significantly to shipbuilding. The administrative centre of the Borough is South Shields which is itself located at the mouth of the River Tyne, while the Borough's other main population centres such as Jarrow and Hebburn owe much to the past success and world dominance of the shipyards that adjoined the Tyne.

EMPLOYMENT

  The decline of local industries such as manufacturing, shipbuilding, coalmining and fishing in the latter part of the twentieth century has left a legacy that continues to present challenges for the Borough.

  Employment opportunities remain limited and those in service sectors such as leisure and tourism tend to be of a casual, seasonal and transient nature. Consequently, average household income in the Borough falls below the national average and a number of the Borough's neighbourhoods are amongst some of the most deprived in England. Clearly such neighbourhoods face challenges in terms of social exclusion and dis-engagement, which might be observed particularly amongst young people.

TOURISM AND THE LOCAL ECONOMY

  The Borough's coastline is spectacular comprising a mix of cliffs, beaches and dunes and provides a significant regional/sub-regional tourist attraction as well as being host to the Great North Run. South Shields also has an active night-time economy. As such tourism makes a vital contribution to the local economy and the viability of the Town Centre. Visitors to the area appear, however, to come from the northeast region and stay for only a short duration and this tends to be reflected in a relatively low level of visitor expenditure.

HOUSING

  Much of the Borough's housing was developed as part of the industrialisation of the area and is now therefore ageing and in need of significant investment to achieve the decent homes standard. Poor housing conditions coupled with other factors such as deprivation and social exclusion are likely to significantly impact on the health and well-being of residents.

  Associated with its coastal location, South Shields has a concentration of guesthouses, bed and breakfast accommodation and houses in multiple occupation and these present some challenges in terms of ensuring appropriate housing standards are maintained.

ENVIRONMENT

  The Borough's coastal environment faces a number of particular challenges arising from coastal erosion, potential loss of assets and coastal flooding. One specific high profile problem currently being dealt with in the Borough is a former landfill site that is subject to coastal erosion. Unfortunately, because of the particular nature of the site its remediation is likely to fall outside of both Defra's contaminated land and coastal protection funding regimes, but Government funding is still desperately needed.

  Future challenges include the potential loss of highway infrastructure and designated wildlife habitats as a consequence of coastal erosion. At the same time, however, there is a real opportunity to develop and regenerate the Borough's foreshore area in an attempt to increase tourism. Clearly any such development if permitted would carry with it the cost of implementing any necessary coastal defence work; such costs are likely to deter private investment. Again this is an area where Government funding would prove to be invaluable.

CONCLUSION

  Coastal Towns face a range of social, economic and environmental challenges some of which will be common to all such communities, others to a given region and others specific to a particular locality. This inquiry is very much welcomed and it is hoped that the Committee will recognise and make recommendation in relation to these significant issues. The Committee may possibly consider whether the problems faced by coastal towns should be specifically recognised in the FSS and through capital funding.


 
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