Firth of Clyde Forum Annual Conference 2007

The Economy of the Coast

• Conference Home
• Conference Programmme
• Keynote Presentation
• Additional Presentations
  • The Growth Of Marine Leisure on The Firth of Clyde
  • Industry Initiatives
  • The Clyde’s Cool Seas: The Marine Conservation Society in Scotland
  • Paths Around the Water
  • Sailing in the Clyde Estuary
  • The Economy of the Coast
  • The Majestic Line
  • Marine Wildlife Watching on the Clyde: The Scottish Marine Wildlife Watching Code
• Speakers' Biographies
• Conference Exhibitors

John Kelly, Director of the economic development and regeneration consultancy firm EKOS, described the recent economic review of the Clyde coast and the associated coastal settlements and how this fits into the UK-wide picture.

At the UK level, from an economic development perspective, the coast and the coastal communities are fast becoming a key policy issue for national and regional policy makers.

At a national level, in 2007 there was a parliamentary enquiry into the economy and economic performance of coastal communities. This concluded that a key issue was that there was no single policy or single government department with sole responsibility for the coast – therefore it was easy to fall into a policy gap.

The enquiry identified that there were as many common features as there were disparities between coastal settlements and there were as many examples of successful and thriving communities as there were of under-performing and declining ones.

Overall, the common factors included:

• physical isolation
• deprivation
• ageing population
• migration of young people/ in of old people
• poor housing
• limited economic prospects

It also concluded that they required a better understanding of the coast but crucially they did not believe there was a one size fits all solution.

Overall, Scotland is not much different from the national picture although there has been limited research into the coast as an economic unit. A particular study was undertaken in 2002 through the Countryside and Natural Heritage Research Programme, which identified the key issues as:

• declining and ageing population without migration
• high levels of deprivation and poverty
• low value activities and low earnings
• narrow economic base

There have been a range of developing national policy initiatives in respect of the coast in terms of planning, environment, freight etc, however there is at present no specific economic development policy in relation to the coast.

Following on from the above, EKOS has recently carried out an economic review of the Clyde Coast and the associated coastal settlements¹

Firstly, there is a lot of coast – around 600 miles – that is home to around 250,000 people living in over 30 main settlements. As per the national picture, the population is ageing and declining and suffers out and in migration – with an in-balance between young people moving out and older ones moving in.

Some of the key findings of the review are highlighted below:

• there are around 200,000 jobs but with high reliance on tourism related and public sector jobs
• low earnings with low levels of higher value jobs
• again, the research shows pockets of severe deprivation
• there is therefore an affluence divide with some very successful and wealthy communities and some poorly performing ones
• housing is a major issue with a focus on a 'lack of affordable' which coupled with low incomes, reinforces the issue
• commuting is becoming more evident with more people working in the city - but this is still a small overall percentage of the total and local employment is still dominant
• some major issues of declining town centres driven by more competition from out of town developments
• the city is becoming more important for a range of services such as education/ retail/ culture/ transport etc

The research had a particular focus on the tourism and leisure dimension of the coast and the key issues are set out below:

• tourism and leisure is a crucial element of the coast economy
• the Firth of Clyde accounts for around 9% of all Scottish tourism activities
• it is a major player in key markets such as sailing and water based activities; golf; culture markets and in new developing areas such as eco-tourism
• there are around 1.6 million tourist trips and 38 million day visits to the coast
• this generates an estimated £670M of annual spend which support around 16,000 jobs and generates £300M of added value for the Scottish economy

So what does all this mean for the economy of the coast and the coastal communities? Firstly, there are a wide range of economic challenges including:

• rebalancing the population – retain more young people as well as growing the total population
• more and better mix of housing – to attract more people and allow people to stay in the local area
• employment diversification – too much reliance on a narrow economic base
• while some of these sectors have growth opportunities, long term sustainability will require other employment opportunities – this is a big challenge as is the question of how to diversify
• there is a particular challenge over how to grow higher value (higher spending) jobs
• there are real opportunities in leisure and tourism market niches – and most of these will have direct relevance to the marine environment
• improving town centres and their offerings (hotels restaurants services etc) will help support not only indigenous growth and attract new residents but is also a pre-requisite to growing tourism
• connectivity will be important – the pull of the city is too great, therefore there need to be good connections to make living and working in coastal areas an attractive option

Based on our analysis we have set out below a number of final thoughts which highlight some of the key issues in relation to coastal economies.

Does Scotland require a coastal town strategy?

At this stage the jury is still out - not enough is yet known and the decision to introduce yet another “strategy” should not be taken lightly.

However, it is clear that coastal towns are an important part of the economic mix in Scotland and successful and thriving towns can add to the wider Scottish offering.

Our research in relation to the Clyde Coast has identified a particular niche role for the coast in relation to the wider regional economy that offers opportunities for future economic growth.

How do coastal communities (the land bit) relate to marine environment (the water bit)?

An interesting question! How important is the marine environment to the coastal economy – does it just happen to be there or is it the main driver?

This will be a key question that the current marine initiatives are seeking to answer.

This then leads to the issue of how marine spatial planning will impact on the economy of the coastal communities.

There appear to be strong linkages between the land based economy and the marine environment and therefore any future marine plan has to be aware of the implications of what they do in relation to the local economy, particularly using the opportunity to truly reflect on the concept of sustainable development and balance the economic social and environmental needs and opportunities of the Firth of Clyde.

For more information on EKOS and their work visit www.ekos-consultants.co.uk

¹ Clyde Coast Framework, Scottish Enterprise 2007