People living in coastal communities deserve longer, healthier lives, says MP

Residents of coastal communities deserve “longer, better, healthier lives”, an MP has said, after seasonal work and holiday lets were identified as being behind poorer health outcomes in seaside areas.

Steff Aquarone, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Norfolk, said wealthy people treat some coastal villages “just like a Jane Austen-era summer jaunt” while poorer people “suffer for the rest of the year”.

He referred to a report by England’s chief medical officer, Professor Sir Chris Whitty, about health outcomes along the coast, which identified “low life expectancy and high rates of many major diseases”.

Sir Chris has previously found there were “many reasons” for poorer health outcomes, including the “pleasant environment” which attracts older, retired residents, an “oversupply of guest housing” which has led to more houses of multiple occupation and, in turn, “concentrations of depravation and ill health”, and less stable jobs.

Housing, communities and local government minister Alex Norris acknowledged there were “challenges particularly around being the community at the end of the line”, adding that these were “profound”.

Referring to Sir Chris’s report, Mr Aquarone told the Commons: “What he uncovered was shocking.

“We have higher rates of poor health and disease, the rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer are higher, and those diagnosed with these diseases have poorer outcomes, they also suffer with them for longer.”

He added: “Our coastal communities deserve to live longer, better, healthier lives than they do now.”

Mr Aquarone continued: “We’ve got unique health challenges, economic challenges and opportunities, and major environmental importance, and our coastal communities are too important to be bit-parts of different portfolios, we urgently need to take a holistic approach to supporting them, understanding how these factors interact with each other.

“We need to be able to understand the impact of economic outcomes on health and wellbeing. How our environmental challenges, but also our renewable energy opportunities, can go hand-in-hand to support one another.”

The MP said his constituency had been “plagued by huge levels of second homes”, adding: “Our poorest are sitting on ever-growing waiting lists while the rich treat our coastal villages just like a Jane Austen-era summer jaunt, leaving them to suffer for the rest of the year.”

Labour MP Polly Billington, whose East Thanet seat covers Ramsgate and part of Margate in Kent, intervened and asked: “Would he support my – and many of my colleagues’ – concerns about the need for not just a registration scheme but also a licensing scheme for short-term holiday lets, in order … for local authorities to be able to control and shape their own local economy?”

Mr Aquarone replied: “It’s not ideological, we have to be really pragmatic in these things but, of course, holiday lets, the right sort, can bring welcome tourism to North Norfolk.

“But there is also a safety issue regarding regulation, which I’m very sympathetic to.”

Responding, Mr Norris said there was an “integral challenge with housing” after “too little building for too long”.

“This Government’s going to change that – a million and a half homes in this Parliament and I would say to colleagues, and I would say to anybody listening who’s passionate about their coastal communities, the way to make sure that’s done in the right way that respects local heritage, that respects local demand, that respects those areas of natural beauty is to be involved in the local plan process,” he said.

Mr Norris said these blueprints could also help to plan for “all-year-round jobs”, and added the Government was setting up “short-term let registration scheme”.

He said at the despatch box that devolution, including new regional mayors, could enable a “shift of power and resource from this place to their communities to change it”.