Torridge will get a share of a £1 million fund to help South West seaside towns flourish announced Communities

Secretary John Denham today.

The

Government wants to ensure coastal areas are best placed to take

advantage of their natural resources and assets,

historic infrastructure, and high quality of life, as well emerging

green industries - to develop strong and successful local economies.

Many

seafronts have been transformed through Government investment and

support since 1997 such as Scarborough, St Ives and Roker and the new

strategy aims to extend the seaside renaissance tackling the unique

challenges coastal areas face.

"Strategy for Seaside Success;

securing the future of seaside economies, includes a commitment to work

with the Heritage Lottery Fund to find ways to further extend their

work in restoring iconic piers, which are of critical public value; a

new £5 million fund for 25 priority areas to create jobs, support

business and improve skills of the long term unemployed; new licensing

rules for councils over Houses in Multiple Occupation to tackle

problems around low quality seaside housing; and a pledge to extend the

SeaChange Programme,  which has already pumped £38 million into

improving seaside infrastructure in 32 areas, beyond 2011.

Mr

Denham made the announcement on a visit to Hastings where he saw the

work going on to regenerate the area including the new Jerwood Gallery

and Foundation at the historic beach huts.

John Denham said:

"Our

coastal areas are rich with history and a high quality of life that

makes them attractive places to live in and many seafronts have been

transformed in recent years with Government investment and support.

"Places

like St Ives, Hastings and Scarborough are showing they can thrive once

again through strong local leadership and dynamic businesses, no longer

dependent on British weather, attracting visitors all year round. There

is no reason why our other seaside towns can’t flourish in the same

way.

"Today I'm announcing a new strategy that will help each

coastal area take advantage of the new opportunities and support

available - from restoring piers and creating jobs, to improving local

housing, and funding creative projects that will develop stronger

economies and help ensure the successful future of the British seaside."

Patrick Browne of the Coastal Communities Alliance (CCA) said:

"The

creation of a national Coastal Towns Strategy, the retention of

SeaChange and the additional funding to address entrenched social

problems within our historic resorts, will delight regeneration

practitioners who have long campaigned for such recognition.

 

"Seaside

towns are immensely attractive and popular places, but their

distinctive social and economic structures can maintain worklessness,

benefit dependency, low educational attainment and poor health, all of

which are costly for the individuals and families involved and for the

providers of coastal public services. New solutions and visions are

required for our emotive coastal resorts.

"The new "coastal

strategy" provides the framework for new thinking, while the additional

funding should enable new local solutions for addressing corrosive

coastal deprivation. The CCA warmly welcome these developments".

The strategy sets out details for the following:

- A

new £5 million Seaside Towns Grant to help priority seaside towns

tackle long term jobless - each council will receive £200,000,

including £1 million for South West, £1.2 million for North East and £1

million for South East.

- A pledge to extend the SeaChange

Programme which has already pumped £38 million into improving seaside

infrastructure in 32 areas beyond 2011;

- Heritage Lottery Fund

to look at how more support can be given for iconic piers which are a

unique part of a seaside’s historic infrastructure. The fund has

already given more than £234 million to 864 projects in English coastal

resorts since 1997;

- New licensing rules for councils over

Houses in Multiple Occupation will help tackle problems around low

quality seaside housing; looking at what else is needed to prevent

dodgy landlords getting caravan site licences;

- Powers to bring unused properties and coastal land back into use quickly through new ‘Meanwhile Leases’;

- Support

for a ‘Seasiding’ campaign with festivals to attract cultural investors

and strengthen non-seasonal economies to help them become year round

visitor destinations;

- Neighbourhood policing will help tackle

local concerns about anti-social behaviour (ASB) and crime in seaside

towns. Three coastal areas have been chosen to develop Neighbourhood

Agreements, covering local standards of service and priorities for

action – Portsmouth, Newquay and Berwick. Government will also look

into the impact of day visitors;

- New UK offshore wind farms

licenses could be worth £75 billion and create 70,000 new jobs, many of

which would be in coastal areas, by 2020;

- Interest free energy efficiency and renewable energy loans to help small business buy energy saving equipment;

- Regional

Development Agencies and Tourism Boards like Visit Britain to give

maximum promotion to seaside towns in their region;

- Seaside

proof public sector services to strengthen co-operation through single

regional strategies, with Regional Minister as seaside champions, and

delivery of online services personalised to seaside town needs

Many seaside towns have already proven they can transform

themselves from high seasonal unemployment to year round thriving

businesses. In 2009 Scarborough won the most enterprising town in

Europe and Lowestoft was named most enterprising in Britain.