How to regenerate the seaside

Of course, the introduction of the holiday to the working masses and the limitations of the national transport system also played a major part.

Today however, it is the very things that led to their creation – increased leisure time, choice and accessibility – that continue to thwart their success. Successive evolutions in our transport system have brought new destinations across Europe and beyond within easy reach of most of us. Despite our growing environmental concerns about air travel, it is also likely that the number of destinations will grow in the immediate future, particularly as we begin to explore the cultures and landscapes of our new European neighbours.

These things have been incredibly well documented. Some of the most recent analysis suggests that many seaside markets have yet to fully “bottom out” and the recent select committee report on coastal towns portrayed a rather depressing image of a contemporary seaside town in Britain.

Although in some cases true, the portrayal of our seaside resorts as isolated, deprived and unattractive to young people should not encourage a policy response that is just focused on “fixing problems”. Although reducing inequality is of course vital, it should be accompanied by an approach that is focused on taking advantage of what remains a wonderful opportunity. As the old song goes, we all like to be beside the sea…

Many of the policy responses made by the government emphasise the need for private sector investment to regenerate seaside towns. Without doubt this is true, but too often such statements fail to account for the fact that the duty of private businesses is to their shareholders and investors – and not to the achievement of government policies.

If the private sector is to play a role in regenerating seaside towns, then it must be a role that supports their mission – creating profits and shareholder value.

The approach to regenerating seaside towns must be about first creating viable conditions for private investment and second, doing so through the creation of imaginative, more organic and more mixed-use schemes that can break the mould of the “box leisure” schemes that have become so commonplace in many of our resorts and indeed urban centres, from which we are increasingly keen to escape at the weekends.