The Chief Medical Officer, in their annual report, presents to Government information or ‘surveillance’ about the health of England’s population, offering recommendations to both government and individual organisations as to how to improve the public health system.

In his 2021 report, published in July, Chris Whitty chose to report on health in coastal communities. It concluded that:

There are many reasons for poor health outcomes in coastal communities. The pleasant environment attracts older, retired citizens to settle, who inevitably have more and increasing health problems. An oversupply of guest housing has led to Houses of Multiple Occupation which lead to concentrations of deprivation and ill health. The sea is a benefit but also a barrier: attracting NHS and social care staff to peripheral areas is harder, catchment areas for health services are artificially foreshortened and transport is often limited, in turn limiting job opportunities. Many coastal communities were created around a single industry such as previous versions of tourism, or fishing, or port work that have since moved on, meaning work can often be scarce or seasonal.

Physical and natural environment? Demography? Housing? Transport? Employment? This, Sam Stafford thought, sounded like a good subject for exploration on a town planning-based podcast. What are the particular issues associated with planning for coastal communities? What distinguishes a successful coastal town from a less successful one? And what role does the planning system have in determining these outcomes?

Sam puts these questions to Louise Wood (@LWood_Cornwall), Service Director for Planning at Cornwall Council; Christopher Balch (@balchplyuni), Emeritus Professor at the University of Plymouth and Non-Executive Director at the Torbay & South Devon NHS Foundation Trust; and Warren Lever (@ShapeThePlace), Senior Conservation & Design Officer at New Forest District Council.

Some accompanying reading.

Chief Medical Officer’s annual report 2021: health in coastal communities

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chief-medical-officers-annual-report-2021-health-in-coastal-communities

'Imagination is key to the revival of Britain’s seaside towns'

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/13/imagination-key-revival-of-britains-seaside-towns-banksy-norfolk

Levelling up: The seaside town debating what change is needed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58248594

Select Committee on Regenerating Seaside Towns and Communities - The future of seaside towns

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201719/ldselect/ldseaside/320/32004.htm#_idTextAnchor008

Higher education enables graduates to move to places with better career prospects – but this leads to brain drain from the North and coastal areas

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/15621

Trusting the People: the case for community-powered conservatism

https://www.newlocal.org.uk/publications/trusting-people-community/

Blue Deal For Coastal Communities

https://neweconomics.org/campaigns/blue-new-deal

Some accompanying viewing.

Councillors Ray Cox and Roy Evans discuss efforts to regenerate Marine Way in Aldington-on-Sea

https://youtu.be/aeARXMHW4Is

Some accompanying listening.

The Coral - Take me back to the summertime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IREwDVoh558

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html