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Coastal Towns

I certainly agree. I intended to touch on some of the problems in that regard later in my speech. One point about employment in seaside and coastal towns that has not been made is that much of the work is part-time. Cleethorpes is third in the UK for the proportion of people in part-time work. People will be getting the sense that it is low-skilled work, but it is also part-time work, with quite low wages as well. Interestingly, Great Grimsby—Grimsby and Cleethorpes form the North East Lincolnshire unitary authority area—comes in seventh for part-time work. That has a big impact on our area. In fact, I do not think that any other seaside or coastal town has a higher percentage of residents in part-time work: in Cleethorpes, 23 per cent. of the working population works part-time. If action could be taken on that, the area would benefit. Also owing to the skewed demographics, the burden placed on social services is extraordinary. Others delivering services in the area have difficulties because of the skewed demographics, but also because of visitors coming into the area. The police argue that they are funded based on population but not on the number of people coming into the area, which increases the burden on policing in terms of antisocial behaviour and law and order. I would love the formula for police or local government funding somehow to reflect the fact that seaside and coastal areas often have a huge influx of people. They do not necessarily stay overnight, but there are certainly day-trippers. I would like that to be examined. Points have been made about deprivation and poverty. Yes, I have created a lovely picture of the seafront, the promenade and the 4.5 miles of sandy beach. I love the fact that within a few minutes’ walk of my front door is that wonderful beach, but as we go further back from the prom, behind the seafront, the poverty grows, and the areas with the most poverty are those closest to the seafront. The commuter villages and suburbs and the new-build estates do not have that poverty. Of the nine electoral wards in my constituency, three use Cleethorpes in their postal address, and two of those three wards—Sidney Sussex and Croft Baker—are among the most deprived in Britain, but trying to get any grants is very difficult, because we are talking about only two of nine wards in the constituency. That relates to the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, South. The Lincolnshire wolds, on the fringes of my constituency, are not deprived, which has an impact. Overall, the area is quite average. Those pockets of deprivation are hidden by relative affluence in the Lincolnshire wolds and in the suburbs, so whatever we do to tackle this problem, we must recognise the hidden deprivation, which is centred on the quite transient population that other hon. Members have mentioned. Unlike in many other coastal towns, house prices in Cleethorpes are relatively low. That is the case compared with the regional average and the national average. However, that has led to particular problems, which have increased transience and some of the deprivation. No disrespect to the people involved, but there is a lot of buy-to-let, which in our area does not involve people with one or two properties. Because house prices have been relatively cheap, people are buying a lot of them and they are renting them out, putting many people into them. The condition of many of those properties is very poor. People on a low income are moving into Cleethorpes because the money goes further there, but that is increasing deprivation and social isolation. People move into the area from somewhere such as Leeds, Sheffield or Rotherham, thinking, ““Well, things will be much nicer by the seaside. The rents are low.”” That is creating problems. Those of us who went out and about canvassing five or 10 years ago recognised the names and the households as we went down a street. Yes, there was turnover, but we would probably recognise the vast majority of people. Now, in some of the streets where most of the buy-to-let is happening in Cleethorpes, there will be several changes every year of the residents in the houses. Information comes through to me from the local authority about alterations and I think, ““Oh well, that house has changed again.”” In some streets, almost half the people could be described as a transient population. A problem particular to Cleethorpes and some other parts of the country is that many of the properties are leasehold houses. That has kept the house prices low, but it has an impact on people who have lived in the properties for many years and paid their mortgage off. Because the big house building period in Cleethorpes was in the early 1900s, the 99-year leases have been running out and people have found that they do not own the property because it is leasehold. That has had a serious impact on our housing market. Some people are having to sell very cheaply because there is no lease left, which is leading to the buy-to-let.