ZCZC
BCN-19
BRITAIN-COASTAL-SITE-INVESTMENT
Investment in Britain’s coastal sites already paying dividends
LONDON, Aug. 5, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – An investment of around 340 million
U.S. dollars to help save coastal sites around Britain is already paying
dividends, the government’s Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) said Saturday.
New research by the department has revealed that 7,000 new jobs have
already been created in coastal communities and boosted by thousands the
number of visitors and tourists to the coastline.
Latest figures also show that the summer heatwave has been providing a
major boost for the country’s seaside towns and villages, with 55 percent of
people in Britain flocking to Britain’s beaches at least once this year.
Last year, nearly 17 million trips were taken by British residents to the
English seaside, making it the most popular British destination.
The figures prove that the classic music hall song written in 1907, “Oh I
do like to be beside the seaside” still rings true more than a century later.
A DCLG spokesperson said: “With record levels of investment in coastal
communities, coastal tourism has regained its position as England’s largest
holiday sector, employing more people than the motor, aerospace,
pharmaceutical or steel industries.”
DCLG said almost 300 coastal sites across Britain have been saved, created
or improved for future generations through its Coastal Communities Fund which
runs until 2020.
Secretary of State for Communities James Brokenshire MP, said: “We’re
investing 264 million pounds (345 million U.S. dollars) into our coastal
communities by the end of the decade. By 2020 we’ll have invested more funds
directly into coastal regeneration than any other government in history.”
The research comes ahead of the announcement of the winners later this
summer of a government Coastal Communities Fund “fast track” which will see
new “shovel ready” projects receiving funding.
Schemes already completed include floodlighting the historic Perch Rock
Lighthouse in the River Mersey near Liverpool, an art deco lido at Penzance
in Cornwall, the largest surviving tidal saltwater lido in Britain, reviving
the Spanish City Dome at Whitley Bay in North Tyneside, once an architectural
icon and a major tourist attraction in the 1930s, and a new Heritage Quarter
in Bognor Regis.
BSS/XINHUA/HR/1125