Remote Coastal Communities

Miatta Fahnbulleh Excerpts

Monday 8th September 2025 Commons Chamber

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Miatta Fahnbulleh)]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth (Perran Moon) for securing this important debate for my first day in this job, and for his tireless advocacy on behalf of coastal communities. I completely agree: coastal communities are a vital part of our national identity, serving as postcards of national pride, and a reminder of our heritage and shared maritime history. But behind those postcards lies another story, as my hon. Friend has rightly alluded to, for the beauty of our coasts can mask the everyday reality of the people who live there all year round.

These communities face a unique set of circumstances. We know, as my hon. Friend pointed out, that coastal communities tend to have older populations and lower rates of employment, which often mean fewer opportunities for young people. We know that the Social Mobility Commission found that coastal communities have some of the least favourable conditions for childhood in the country; a disproportionately high number of children are eligible for free school meals and their parents have relatively low qualification levels. We know that these communities tend to suffer from a lack of connectivity—a point that hon. Members have made—geographically, economically and digitally, with worse 4G coverage and fewer business opportunities than in high-growth sectors.

Let me assure the House that this Government understand the challenges faced by coastal communities. The Government’s mission is to reverse inequalities and unlock the full potential of all our communities, including our coastal communities, to ensure that they play a vital role in our economy and our future.

[Martin Wrigley]

I appreciate the Minister listing the disadvantages that we have in our coastal communities, although she did not mention the fact that our health services are overwhelmed in the summer. The Dawlish minor injuries unit not being open due to lack of staffing, for example, does not help when numbers in our towns double in the few weeks of summer. It really is very disadvantageous for the local residents.

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I thank the hon. Member for making that important point about the pressures faced by our coastal communities, particularly at peak tourist points. It is important that we acknowledge that.

What we are trying to do as a Government, through long-overdue reforms to the local government finance system, is redirect around £2 billion of existing funding to the places and communities that need it the most, which will enable councils—including in our coastal areas—to deliver reliably for their residents. We also acknowledge and recognise that delivery costs vary across the country. Deprivation, remoteness, varying abilities to raise taxes locally and the impact of commuters and tourists, as the hon. Member pointed out, can all affect how hard it can be to deliver services in coastal communities. That is why we are committed to ensuring that those factors are accounted for in future funding allocations—an important move that will have an impact on our communities.

[Steve Darling]

I am concerned about the Getting It Right First Time NHS template that the health service applies to our health services in Devon and Cornwall. It is a system that is very much drawn from the metropolitan experience of health provision and does not account for sparsity and the fact that we have seas either side of us. Can the Minister assure us that Getting It Right First Time will take account of places where there is rurality and coastal impact on our health services?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

Whether it is our NHS or our public services, there is a challenge for us to ensure that we are designing services that work for different communities and that recognise the diversity of those communities, and that is what we are committed to as a Department. We are committed to working with our colleagues across Government to ensure we are providing the services that people need, tailored to the needs of local communities. That is a big thrust of the devolution agenda, which I am very committed to and passionate about, on which we have made big progress as a Government, and will continue to do so.

[Luke Myer]

I have submitted proposals to the Tees Valley combined authority to get East Cleveland’s economy moving—the focus of my Invest in East Cleveland event on Friday. Will the Minister commit to working with me to bring investment into our rural and coastal communities so that we can unlock jobs and growth for the whole country?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I thank my hon. Friend for championing his area and for the work he is doing locally, and I will absolutely commit to working with him. The opportunities to unlock the potential of our areas are huge, and I am very committed to playing my part to help us to deliver that.

Alongside that, we are clear that we want to deliver a wide range of programmes to address economic, social and health disparities across the country, including in our coastal areas; in Camborne and Redruth, for example, we are already investing £24.7 million via the Camborne town deal through to March 2027, as well as £12 million via the UK shared prosperity fund until the end of this financial year.

In addition, our £1.5 billion plan for neighbourhoods will deliver up to £20 million of funding and support over the next decade into 75 communities across the country. One in three of those communities is coastal, meaning that up to £500 million will directly support regeneration in coastal towns and neighbourhoods. At the spending review, the Chancellor announced an expansion of this programme to as many as 350 places, including 25 new trailblazer areas, such as Barrow and Bootle South, with these areas receiving early support to tackle local challenges and drive growth. The programme will help communities to improve cultural venues, health and wellbeing services and, critically, local infrastructure. It will champion local leadership, foster community engagement and strengthen social cohesion.

Members raised challenges around flooding, which the Department recognises. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is taking action to improve resilience in coastal areas, particularly on the key issue of flooding. We are conscious that we need to take action as we respond to climate change. The flood resilience taskforce is improving the co-ordination between national and local agencies, which we need to get right. We have invested a record £2.65 billion over this year and last year for the construction and maintenance of flood schemes, supporting 1,000 projects and protecting 52,000 properties by March 2026. Over the next three years, a further £4.2 billion will be invested in flood and coastal defences.

Critically, we recognise the strategic importance of coastal communities such as Barrow, which play a vital role in our national security. This Government have committed to providing £200 million over 10 years to improve education, employment, skills and health and wellbeing, alongside investment in the town centre. There are significant opportunities for us to capitalise on the natural assets and strengths of our coastline, including by supporting clean energy industries.

Finally, on the key question of fair funding, we recognise that we need to take better account of the drivers of deprivation when we allocate funding. We are consulting on the proposal and taking in all the representations we have been given, and we will respond in due course. Members should be assured that we recognise the specific challenges in coastal areas, such as connectivity, and their impact on deprivation. We are trying to factor that into the approach we are taking with the fair funding formula.

As a proud coastal nation, there are many opportunities available to us, and this Government are already taking steps to make sure that we capitalise on them. We are committed to working with Members across the House to unlock the full potential of our coastal communities. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth for bringing forward this important debate and for being a tireless champion of coastal communities. I look forward to working with him and colleagues from across Cornwall and across the House.

[Andrew George]

I am so sorry to interrupt the Minister’s peroration, but she covered without detail the funding formula for local authorities and whether it will properly address the poverty and deprivation in rural areas. Cornwall is the poorest region in the country and achieved European objective 1 status—one of the highest levels of regional development aid—but it is not seen in Government eyes as the poorest region, certainly as far as the criteria is concerned. Will the Minister ensure that the criteria the Government use properly assesses the levels of deprivation in rural areas?

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

We are very exercised about ensuring that we support areas of deprivation, and we always keep all indices and metrics under review. My hon. Friend the Member for Camborne and Redruth talked about the research, which I look forward to reading in detail. Ultimately, my objective is the objective of hon. Members. We know that there are areas that face huge challenges, and we need to get the right support to them. In order to do that, we must ensure that we understand the issues and are targeting them. Obviously the metrics that are used have a critical role, and the House has my commitment that we will keep this area under review.

I am committed to working with Members across the House on this issue. We recognise the importance of our coastal communities and we see huge opportunities. The Government are putting in place a large number of programmes and support schemes, and we are keen to work together to make sure that we unlock those opportunities.