Health, wellbeing and regeneration in coastal resorts

Blackpool

Blackpool has more than 10 million visitors a year, seven miles of beaches, many tourist attractions, hotels and guest housess.39 The health profile of its 142,500 residents shows that their health is generally worse than the England average, with higher rates of violent crime, hospital stays for alcohol-related harm and drug misuse. There are inequalities in life expectancy by both deprivation and gender. And while there have been decreases in death rates from all causes and in early death rates from heart disease and stroke, and cancer, these rates remain well above the England average.⁴⁰

We look below at two examples whereby agencies in Blackpool are working with each other to enforce standards and improve living conditions for Blackpool’s residents and visitors. With the support of elected members, council officers in Blackpool have been able to send out a message that standards across the town will be robustly enforced.

Over recent years the number of visitors to Blackpool has shrunk. This decline set in train a grim cycle whereby some of the struggling hotels gradually became permanent accommodation, often as HMOs. Blackpool then became known as having a plentiful supply of cheap rented accommodation, and agencies such as probation and youth services across the region began to advise their clients to go to Blackpool to find housing. The number of HMOs grew and the lifestyles of the HMO residents, often chaotic and damaging, proved incompatible with families and holidaymakers. HMOs in the main holiday areas were beginning to affect the main tourist economy. In some wards the numbers of young people and care-leavers, ex-offenders and homeless people spiralled. The concentration of HMOs meant that the volume of work for the fire brigade and the police, probation services and council services such as quality standards and adult social care and housing also began to grow. Each agency knew about the problems but responses were dealt with individually. Enforcement was long and drawn-out and sometimes was unintentionally prolonging the life of unwanted properties.

Towards the end of 2008, Blackpool issued a clear policy statement that there would be no permanent accommodation in the holiday area; agencies began to take action in partnership. Instead of the previous piecemeal approach agencies now moved straight to action and pursued all possible options for enforcement. Attention was given to the three Ps: property, place and people. People had traditionally dropped out of the equation. This partnership approach to dealing with people was the culmination of many years’ work and drew on housing options assessments and lessons from previous projects in the town whereby intensive support had been offered to families and to people in need. Council officers are spreading the word that Blackpool no longer has a plentiful supply of cheap accommodation: new arrivals are counselled and offered practical help to return home.

The council, NHS Blackpool and the police all recognise that alcohol is a priority and since 2005 have been developing joint approaches. The Night-time Economy Strategy is a multisectoral group that meets bi-monthly: approaches include ensuring that the town centre includes restaurants and alternative entertainment such as ten-pin bowling; marshals assist the police and work at taxi-ranks to avoid fights and conflict; and entertainment is provided throughout the town centre to keep the atmosphere light. ALTN8 is a public health campaign that encourages alcohol awareness including advising people to drink soft drinks in between alcoholic drinks.⁴¹ The police strongly favour polycarbonate glasses as these reduce the incidence of facial injuries. As part of ALTN8, NHS Blackpool distributed 20,000 polycarbonate glasses to licensed premises. These glasses were also marked with the units of alcohol.⁴²

Blackpool is working with licensed premises to improve standards: the council offers subsidised training in all aspects of running licensed premises. The council also has an important policy of robust and repeated interventions for premises that transgress standards. During the financial year 2007/8, Trading Standards initiated 170 prosecutions. Over the same period the total number of prosecutions for the 30 other unitary authorities in England that submitted returns was 258.⁴³

There are common threads between these two examples:

• There is support from the elected members and senior management for council officers to take bold steps to improve standards in Blackpool.
  
• Officers are empowered to prosecute for all transgressions and to take careful and calculated risks. This means that some losses are inevitable but also that Blackpool becomes known for its robust approach and high standards.
  
• Innovative approaches to enforcement mean that officers visit hotels, HMOs and licensed premises when conditions are most likely to be broken (e.g. at 3 o’clock on a Saturday or Sunday morning) rather than at a prearranged appointment in the middle of the day.
  
• There is a focus on protecting the residents of, and visitors to, Blackpool and on enhancing the quality of life in Blackpool.