Ministers must do more to help struggling coastal communities around England with levelling-up policies at risk of failing to turnaround decades of inequality, a new report warns.
Nearly one in five jobs pay below the living wage, the study says, with household income almost £3,000 lower than in non-coastal areas.
Poorer health, education, transport and broadband links are also highlighted.
The government said it continued to provide support to coastal economies.
The report was commissioned by the Coastal Communities Alliance, the Local Government Association Coastal Special Interest Group and the Coastal Partnerships Network and the BBC has been given exclusive access to it ahead of its publication on Wednesday.
The report – called Communities on the Edge – warns levelling up’s focus on regions means “massive challenges” faced by some smaller, remote parts of the country are “hidden” and likely to be missed by the government.
It points to the East of England, which has the…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk