Understanding the research and policy needs of English coastal communities: a new coastal classification
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Plymouth
Department Name: Peninsula Medical School
Abstract
This project aims to co-design, implement and make publicly available a geodemographic classification of English coastal communities.
Growing awareness of the many challenges facing coastal communities parallels the 're-discovery' of inner-city deprivation in the 1970s. Evidence presented in the 2021 Chief Medical Officer's annual report shows that coastal areas have some of the worst health outcomes in England, with low life expectancy and high rates of many major diseases. The 2022 Levelling up White Paper similarly notes that seaside towns have among the highest levels of community need and poor opportunities for the people who grow up there.
While policy attention is starting to be directed towards the needs of coastal communities, there are a number of barriers to developing effective (and cost-effective) policy solutions. We have insufficient knowledge about the nature and diversity of coastal communities; some face serious challenges and are 'lagging', while others are doing very well ('leading'). The potentially causal, dynamic (but modifiable) relationships between key economic, social, cultural, political and historical factors are poorly understood. The funding and implementation of targeted policies are made difficult by the fact that few administrative geographies serve predominately coastal populations. As most routine data on public services are published for LAs, CCGs and, more recently, Integrated Care Systems, the specific needs of coastal communities often go unreported. Coastal communities lack an evidence base detailing their needs, a political 'voice' to articulate their needs, and an organisational context through which to develop policy responses.
Against this background, this project aims to co-produce an evidence-based and policy-orientated classification of coastal communities linked to suitably granular data.
First, stakeholder engagement will be employed to help identify key variables that may differentiate coastal from non-coastal places; advise on technical and methodological issues; and provide recommendations on how to make the classification relevant, useable and updatable.
Second, the project will collate, aggregate and attribute a wide range of economic, social, demographic and administrative data at small area level and, using a coastal 'flag', carry out statistical analyses to explore (a) the distinctive attributes of coastal communities and the extent to which the challenges faced are spacifically related to their coastal location and identity, and (b) the ways in which contextual factors affect outcomes relating to health, education, social mobility and other socio-economic domains in different coastal localities.
Third, reflecting stakeholder views on e.g., which clustering methodology using which data, whether to construct a single classification or multiple classifications addressing different domains etc., we will develop a classification of coastal communities, supported by an archive of all collated, aggregated and attributed data, along with all code used in the creation of the classification.
Fourth, we will hold a series of stakeholder workshops comprising 'how to' guidance and demonstrations for academics and policy stakeholders who are interested in using the classification in practice.
The classification will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the varied characteristics and needs of coastal communities, and of the causal factors underpinning their diversity. This is a necessary precursor to developing an effective response to coastal communities' needs, including as part of the 'levelling up' agenda. The work will help avoid duplication of effort by local studies/interventions which presently need to establish their own criteria, units of analysis and evidence base. A classification of coastal communities will also facilitate shared learning from applied research and the evaluation of local policies, strategies and interventions.
Growing awareness of the many challenges facing coastal communities parallels the 're-discovery' of inner-city deprivation in the 1970s. Evidence presented in the 2021 Chief Medical Officer's annual report shows that coastal areas have some of the worst health outcomes in England, with low life expectancy and high rates of many major diseases. The 2022 Levelling up White Paper similarly notes that seaside towns have among the highest levels of community need and poor opportunities for the people who grow up there.
While policy attention is starting to be directed towards the needs of coastal communities, there are a number of barriers to developing effective (and cost-effective) policy solutions. We have insufficient knowledge about the nature and diversity of coastal communities; some face serious challenges and are 'lagging', while others are doing very well ('leading'). The potentially causal, dynamic (but modifiable) relationships between key economic, social, cultural, political and historical factors are poorly understood. The funding and implementation of targeted policies are made difficult by the fact that few administrative geographies serve predominately coastal populations. As most routine data on public services are published for LAs, CCGs and, more recently, Integrated Care Systems, the specific needs of coastal communities often go unreported. Coastal communities lack an evidence base detailing their needs, a political 'voice' to articulate their needs, and an organisational context through which to develop policy responses.
Against this background, this project aims to co-produce an evidence-based and policy-orientated classification of coastal communities linked to suitably granular data.
First, stakeholder engagement will be employed to help identify key variables that may differentiate coastal from non-coastal places; advise on technical and methodological issues; and provide recommendations on how to make the classification relevant, useable and updatable.
Second, the project will collate, aggregate and attribute a wide range of economic, social, demographic and administrative data at small area level and, using a coastal 'flag', carry out statistical analyses to explore (a) the distinctive attributes of coastal communities and the extent to which the challenges faced are spacifically related to their coastal location and identity, and (b) the ways in which contextual factors affect outcomes relating to health, education, social mobility and other socio-economic domains in different coastal localities.
Third, reflecting stakeholder views on e.g., which clustering methodology using which data, whether to construct a single classification or multiple classifications addressing different domains etc., we will develop a classification of coastal communities, supported by an archive of all collated, aggregated and attributed data, along with all code used in the creation of the classification.
Fourth, we will hold a series of stakeholder workshops comprising 'how to' guidance and demonstrations for academics and policy stakeholders who are interested in using the classification in practice.
The classification will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the varied characteristics and needs of coastal communities, and of the causal factors underpinning their diversity. This is a necessary precursor to developing an effective response to coastal communities' needs, including as part of the 'levelling up' agenda. The work will help avoid duplication of effort by local studies/interventions which presently need to establish their own criteria, units of analysis and evidence base. A classification of coastal communities will also facilitate shared learning from applied research and the evaluation of local policies, strategies and interventions.
Organisations
| Title | Central England Small Area (CESA) data portal |
| Description | All data created or collated as part of the Coastal Classification project is to be included on the Coastal England Small Area (CESA) Data Portal (available at https://alexgibsonplymouth.shinyapps.io/CESA_Beta/). Making project data readily available and providing users with a variety of analytical tools is an important long-term goal, but this interactive and intuitive website is primarily designed to engage and inform project stakeholders, allowing them to explore with us the 'real-world' consequences of alternative definitions of the coastal fringe and to 'ground-truth' candidate small area classifications as they are developed. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2024 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | The research tool has already been used in two rounds of stakeholder engagement. Using it has allowed us to improve the stakeholder process by allowing stakeholders to explore with us the 'real-world' consequences of alternative definitions of the coastal fringe and to 'ground-truth' candidate small area classifications as they are developed. |
| URL | https://alexgibsonplymouth.shinyapps.io/CESA_Beta/ |
| Description | 11th March 2024 (14:30-16:00): Southeast, East, and South stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this workshop was to socialise the project in the South, southeast and East of England, to disseminate key information about its aims and objectives and about the CESA portal to key coastal stakeholders and to gather feedback regarding the classification, the data underpinning it and the functionality of the CESA portal. The workshops began with an introduction to the coastal classification project and some information about privacy and ethics, followed by a short introduction to the CESA portal and discussion of how coastal communities should be defined, how might the portal help, and what would be of use to include within it. Next, the workshop focused on the typology and stakeholders were asked about their views and opinions of the attributes and characteristics they perceived to be distinctive to all coastal communities, and which distinguishes between different types of coastal communities. Lastly, stakeholders were asked if any data had been overlooked or were overtly missing and the project's next steps were outlined. Sheela Agarwal welcomed everyone to the session and then Sheena Asthana introduced the project and some key questions she wanted to discuss. Alex Gibson did a brief presentation on the CESA portal. Examples of feedback from the session: One of the delegates asked if the data portal was doing to be 'kept behind closed doors' or if it could be developed with investment once the project had finished? Alex replied that the main priority was to make something that worked for the purposes of the project and that this was not currently being considered. Sheena explained further that a concern of this would be around having the right permissions for LSOA data to be shared. This led to a discussion around what LSOA and MSOA and built up area data could be included in the classification. Alex explained that unfortunately, some data could be so granular that it might not be included for confidentiality reasons. Another delegate who identified themselves as a qualitative researcher asked whether it was possible to disaggregate the data by marine resource user or type of coastal person household e.g. fisherman/fisherwoman/fishing families. They wanted to know if the data could get down to that level of granularity. Alex did not think that would be possible as the census will not release the information if it is only a very small numbers of households. Another delegate spoke about youth mental health data in coastal regions versus non-coastal. Sheena (I) mentioned that the team had previously used LSOA data in the CMO report, which included hospital admissions age 10 to 24 for self harm and under 18 ADMISSIONS for alcohol and substance use. If the ECC project can access and get permission to use this data we will but due to confidentiality and GDPR we might end up having being able to use it, but not necessarily sharing it. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | 13th Feb 2024 (14:00-16:00): Northeast stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this workshop was to socialise the project within the northeast region, to disseminate key information about its aims and objectives and about the CESA portal to key coastal stakeholders and to gather feedback regarding the classification, the data underpinning it and the functionality of the CESA portal. The workshops began with an introduction to the coastal classification project and some information about privacy and ethics, followed by a short introduction to the CESA portal and discussion of how coastal communities should be defined, how might the portal help, and what would be of use to include within it. Next, the workshop focused on the typology and stakeholders were asked about their views and opinions of the attributes and characteristics they perceived to be distinctive to all coastal communities, and which distinguishes between different types of coastal communities. Lastly, stakeholders were asked if any data had been overlooked or were overtly missing and the project's next steps were outlined. Sheela Asthana welcomed everyone to the meeting and then I (Sheena Asthana) introduced the project and asked delegates to consider 'what we mean by coastal' among other questions the project hopes to investigate. I then handed over to Alex Gibson who gave a brief presentation about the CESA portal. Feedback from the delegates: Questions were asked about the functionality of the portal and how specific data could be extracted from it. Alex Gibson answered by explaining that once you have identified that you are interested in communities that are within 5km from the coast you will be able to click an icon to give you a list of those areas. Another delegate mentioned that Sport England are beginning to look at data in terms of coastal and non-coastal rather than just urban or rural and this led to a discussion around activity level data. Then a representative from the Local Government Association coastal Special Interest Group was introduced in the meeting. They spoke about coastal erosion and landfill data. A delegate from Historic England spoke about historic environment data which might be useful. They mentioned in the chat that they have the heritage at risk data set, which is ONS recognised. It's a national indicated data set that is of variable quality. They mentioned that it does depend on what has been assessed, but it does go back to about 2008 with annual updating and there is a set of trend data within that. This includes outside of London Grade one and two star listed buildings as point data, as well as conservation area data. They also spoke about human habitat indicators in e.g. dilapidated buildings which suggests wider economic problems. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | 14th Nov 2023 (11:30-13:30). Understanding health inequalities in coastal communities: towards a co-designed coastal classification, ESRC Festival of Social Science Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This event coincided with the ESRC's Festival of Research and was held on the 14th November 2023. The purpose of this workshop was to socialise the project, to disseminate key information about its aims and objectives and about the CESA portal to key coastal stakeholders and to gather feedback regarding the classification, the data underpinning it and the functionality of the CESA portal. The workshops began with an introduction to the coastal classification project from Sheena Asthana (me) and some information about privacy and ethics, followed by a short introduction to the CESA portal by Alex Gibson and discussion of how coastal communities should be defined, how might the portal help, and what would be of use to include within it. Next, the workshop focused on the typology and stakeholders were asked about their views and opinions of the attributes and characteristics they perceived to be distinctive to all coastal communities, and which distinguishes between different types of coastal communities. Lastly, stakeholders were asked if any data had been overlooked or were overtly missing and the project's next steps were outlined. Examples of discussion: We had a question from a stakeholder about what policy areas we are interested in (to which we answered, all). Another participant based at Nutfor in Brixham, reported that they held large level data for inshore fishing in the area. They highlighted that in some situations large level data can give a false reading. For instance, most people in the fishing community would rather go bankrupt than access more resources to handle their debt. This unfortunately gives a false reading on the current situation with debt in the community which is worse than the data shows. I asked for feedback on the best way to collect feedback at the upcoming regional workshops and the best way to capture stakeholder views. I suggested that the Delphi survey might be too clunky and mechanical and asked for views from attendees. Another delegate raised the importance of capturing small communities along the coast because they are the places that for various reasons, will be most isolated, won't have as much transport, may not get as good internet signal and in many respects they're the ones that we need to capture. Alex agreed they should be included in the classification. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/esrcfestival/understanding-health-inequalities-in-coastal-commun... |
| Description | 18th Mar 2024 (14:30-16:00): Northwest stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this workshop was to socialise the project in the Northwest of England, to disseminate key information about its aims and objectives and about the CESA portal to key coastal stakeholders and to gather feedback regarding the classification, the data underpinning it and the functionality of the CESA portal. The workshops began with an introduction to the coastal classification project and some information about privacy and ethics, followed by a short introduction to the CESA portal and discussion of how coastal communities should be defined, how might the portal help, and what would be of use to include within it. Next, the workshop focused on the typology and stakeholders were asked about their views and opinions of the attributes and characteristics they perceived to be distinctive to all coastal communities, and which distinguishes between different types of coastal communities. Lastly, stakeholders were asked if any data had been overlooked or were overtly missing and the project's next steps were outlined. Sheela Agarwal and I (Sheena Asthana) introduced the session and Sheela spoke briefly about the importance of consenting to the workshop for the purposes of our ethical approval. She also explained that if delegates did not wish to be named they could rename themselves on the call and/or turn off their cameras as we were recording the session. I then discussed the Classification, how we were approaching the project and the data we were using from ONS, the census, Airbnb, etc. Alex Gibson went on to give a presentation about the CESA data portal. Examples of feedback/questions: One delegate identified themselves as a partnership manager at Solbyfirth, a cross-border coastal partnership in the South of Scotland and the Cumbrian coast in the northwest. They wanted to raise a project that's happening at the moment through the Coastal Partnership Network nationally where they have acquired funding from the Environment Agency 3C's fund to develop a number of different things, but one part of the project is a communications and data hub which would collect information on physical features such as glass-lands and coastal species. They wondered if there could be some potential overlap and collaboration between the two datasets. Another delegate had a question around blue spaces and health. They explained that they were running a project looking at the impacts of coastal erosion on mental health or coastal erosion or possibly coastal change which is planning to do a data review for as part of the project. They offered to keep the team updated. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | 20th January 2025 (3pm-4.30pm) South/South West Stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The intended purpose of the meeting was to explain the stage of the project, ask for feedback on 1) how we are planning to define 'coastal' 2) the coastal classification 3) the CESA data portal which Dr Alex Gibson has been working on which will help us make our classification. Dr Gibson also gave a brief demonstration of the CESA data portal which all attendees had been given access to prior to the meeting, making them aware it is a work in progress. Dr Gibson has been uploading data to it using LSOA and MSOA level data from the ONS, Airbnb and elsewhere to the portal. 34 people attended the workshop from across the South and South West. Discussion and questions were taken in the teams' chat. Comments/suggestions were received such as:h as Comment 1: 'By their very nature, coastal areas have a restriction on development boundaries (given the sea is one side of their boundary!). So their relationship with the nearest built up inland areas is important as they offer the expansion (housing/employment land) that may be necessary to maintain some of the smaller coastal villages.' Comment 2: 'How about thinking about travel time instead of distance? If you look at how long it takes to get to coast, I suspect there will be a lot more overlap between time and function (that is, the kinds of things XX mentioned above). This could also be a solution to the areas with, e.g., cliffs. It's not so much how far away it is but how difficult it is to reach that determines how much people in that area use the coast and identify with it.' Comment 3: 'It is really nuanced and really highlights how tricky this is. I would personally prefer a quite broad 'definition' and use a Mosaic / Acorn / ONS Area type 'classification' to differentiate. Resolution is interesting here - zoom out nationwide a 3-5km LSOA proximity definition makes a lot of sense, but when we look at specific areas we know we will argue the toss for hours!' Comment 4: 'We have similar challenges when you come to the rural and urban definitions. Cornwall is a very rural county but residents would say there is a very distinct difference even within the county. Ask predominantly urban they will say Cornwall is definitely rural.' We also sent out a post workshop survey to collect attendees' views of the 1) event timings and length, 2) presentation, 3) the portal, 4) a decision on a location-based definition of 'what is the coast' 5) what spatial scale would be most useful e.g. LSOA (Lower Super Output Areas) or MSOA (Middle Super Output Areas), 6) what approach to the classification delegates would find most useful e.g. grouping communities into a number of general categories emphasising key characteristics or a series of policy focused, thematic classifications distinguishing between communities in terms of local economies, demographic characteristics or social and cultural resources, 7) Whether access to small area data was important to delegates and their work and 8) Whether they would use the portal in their work, among other questions. We received 11 responses across all three workshops from January 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/coastal-communities/towards-a-coastal-definition/esrc-funded-pro... |
| Description | 24th January 2025 (12.30pm-2pm) Southeast/South stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The intended purpose of the meeting was to explain the stage of the project, ask for feedback on 1) how we are planning to define 'coastal' 2) the coastal classification 3) the CESA data portal which Dr Alex Gibson has been working on which will help us make our classification. Dr Gibson also gave a brief demonstration of the CESA data portal which all attendees had been given access to prior to the meeting, making them aware it is a work in progress. Dr Gibson has been uploading data to it using LSOA and MSOA level data from the ONS, Airbnb and elsewhere to the portal. 23 people attended the workshop from across the South and South East. Discussion and questions were taken in the teams' chat. Comments/suggestions were received such as: Comment 1: 'I really liked the concept of being 'culturally coastal' Sheena mentioned - it would cover those areas which have experienced decline in their fishing/shipping/tourism industries and perhaps that decline is the simplistic 'cause' of some coastal deprivation now. Just anecdotally though, in my area (Tendring - which includes Clacton, just to the east of Colchester), we benefitted from Government Rural England Prosperity funding and most of the District - including shipping areas such as Harwich - were classed as rural. What's to say an area can't be both?' Comment 2: 'So you have attempted to avoid areas which might be classified as 'rural' from falling into a definition of 'coastal' by using BUA Proximity? If someone was trying to arrive at a definition of 'rural' they might do something similar and say - that's not 'rural', its too close to the coast! Is there a danger of areas which are at the intersection of rural/coastal falling through the gaps in this?' Comment 3: The CESA Data Portal is such an impressive effort - visually, how quickly 'define scope' option works to produce information on areas of interest and then to reveal which data is available. I am a part of a transdisciplinary team of researchers on a project xxx led by University of Essex. We are very much interested in 'what is coastal' as our project focuses on coastal communities from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent region. And we are debating and discussing all the questions raised by other attendees here. Are you considering on incorporating any natural capital data? For example, would it be possible to incorporate data that will be coming out soon on National assessment of flood and coastal erosion risk in England: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024/national-assessment-of-flood-and-coastal-erosion-risk-in-england-2024#the-new-national-flood-risk-assessment. Could you elaborate more on 'area by function' - what types of categories are you looking for there? Is it possible to create a function to select multiple datasets in the 'explore data' - 'data category' tab?' Comment 4: 'Almost all the data we use is at LSOA level and we will combine to other areas (wards mostly) if we need to or postcode data and then combine it to LSOA (mostly now LSOA 2021, but some data is only to LSOA 2011). we went from 148 to 152 LSOA and from 14 wards to 16. Nothing matches any more!' Comment 5: 'Thank you for sharing the portal. It's been really interesting, and I imagine a challenge to get to this point! It's certainly raised some further areas of research for us locally in West Sussex. We will share our feedback and our own work to date.' We also sent out a post workshop survey to collect attendees' views of the 1) event timings and length, 2) presentation, 3) the portal, 4) a decision on a location-based definition of 'what is the coast' 5) what spatial scale would be most useful e.g. LSOA (Lower Super Output Areas) or MSOA (Middle Super Output Areas), 6) what approach to the classification delegates would find most useful e.g. grouping communities into a number of general categories emphasising key characteristics or a series of policy focused, thematic classifications distinguishing between communities in terms of local economies, demographic characteristics or social and cultural resources, 7) Whether access to small area data was important to delegates and their work and 8) Whether they would use the portal in their work, among other questions. We received 11 responses across all three workshops from January 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/coastal-communities/towards-a-coastal-definition/esrc-funded-pro... |
| Description | 27th January 2025 (2pm-3.30pm) Northeast / Northwest Stakeholder Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The intended purpose of the meeting was to explain the stage of the project, ask for feedback on 1) how we are planning to define 'coastal' 2) the coastal classification 3) the CESA data portal which Dr Alex Gibson has been working on which will help us make our classification. Dr Gibson also gave a brief demonstration of the CESA data portal which all attendees had been given access to prior to the meeting, making them aware it is a work in progress. Dr Gibson has been uploading data to it using LSOA and MSOA level data from the ONS, Airbnb and elsewhere to the portal. 13 people attended the workshop from across the Northeast and Northwest of England. Discussion and questions were taken in the teams' chat. Comments/suggestions and feedback were received such as: Comment 1: 'It's an excellent tool and I'm looking forward to the final version. The questions posed are easier to answer verbally than in text (e.g. I think a proximity based definition is helpful despite its simplistic nature, but only in certain contexts and use cases). As it stands it looks like the tool will support people to make their own decisions on how to use the comparisons which is helpful.' Comment 2: 'Caravan park residency is an area of research interest on the East Coast.' Comment 3: 'Just want to say I think this has huge potential across the Key Cities network - look forward to seeing how' Comment 4: 'I am doing a lot with Sport England on place need classification and will share with them, I am sure they will be in touch.' Comment 5: 'Really interesting - I think the most helpful aspect from my perspective is the ability to define which LSOA/OA areas can be defined as coastal and then download We can then use this with some of our own data that is not necessarily publicly available. Will test some more.' We also sent out a post workshop survey to collect attendees' views of the 1) event timings and length, 2) presentation, 3) the portal, 4) a decision on a location-based definition of 'what is the coast' 5) what spatial scale would be most useful e.g. LSOA (Lower Super Output Areas) or MSOA (Middle Super Output Areas), 6) what approach to the classification delegates would find most useful e.g. grouping communities into a number of general categories emphasising key characteristics or a series of policy focused, thematic classifications distinguishing between communities in terms of local economies, demographic characteristics or social and cultural resources, 7) Whether access to small area data was important to delegates and their work and 8) Whether they would use the portal in their work, among other questions. We received 11 responses across all three workshops from January 2025. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/coastal-communities/towards-a-coastal-definition/esrc-funded-pro... |
| Description | 2nd Feb 2024 (12:00-13:30): Southwest stakeholder workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The purpose of this workshop was to socialise the project within the southwest, to disseminate key information about its aims and objectives and about the CESA portal to key coastal stakeholders and to gather feedback regarding the classification, the data underpinning it and the functionality of the CESA portal. The workshops began with an introduction to the coastal classification project and some information about privacy and ethics, followed by a short introduction to the CESA portal and discussion of how coastal communities should be defined, how might the portal help, and what would be of use to include within it. Next, the workshop focused on the typology and stakeholders were asked about their views and opinions of the attributes and characteristics they perceived to be distinctive to all coastal communities, and which distinguishes between different types of coastal communities. Lastly, stakeholders were asked if any data had been overlooked or were overtly missing and the project's next steps were outlined. Specifically, they wanted to know if there were any national data out there that we could explore to see if that could go on the portal. Sheela Agarwal introduced the project and Alex Gibson spoke about the CESA portal. Examples of the type of comments/feedback: Comments were then made by a member of Devon Communities Together who had been working with Defra and with the Akan network into 'left behind neighbourhoods' in post industrial and coastal areas and places where residents have markedly worse socioeconomic outcomes. They had been using the Community Needs Index and the IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) to investigate this wanted to know whether the ECC project would look at the Community Needs Index when creating the classification. Alex Gibson answered this question and said that they hadn't been looking at it yet and that currently the focus was on housing looking at Airbnb data and health. We also had questions and feedback from a member of the public health team at Devon County Council around public health data. Another delegate asked when the portal would be made publicly available but Alex said he did not know the answer to that yet. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Sheela Agarwal spoke on the English Coastal Classification project on 11th September 2024 at the University of Exeter. The audience was academics from Southwest Universities and the purpose was to discuss research collaborations with the DWP. There were approximately 50 people there and it ran from 10-3.30pm. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Land and Sea: Health Innovation in Rural and Coastal Communities |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Sheela Agarwal attended this workshop to discuss health innovations and interventions. There were 71 people on the call drawn from universities and the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. The purpose was to discuss health innovations and interventions. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 1: Presentation to Aviva Investment CEO and Team, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | This was a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Aviva Investments and his team at their headquarters in London, we discussed the ECC, the data underpinning it and some valuable feedback was elicited from participants. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 2: The Seaside: England's Love Affair, hosted by the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | We presented the project's aims and objectives and the CESA portal. Questions about the project were asked and answered, the presentation generated much interest. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 3: Coastal Housing Crisis and Levelling Up webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | This meeting was with our project participants and focused on the coastal housing crisis and levelling up. We presented on the coastal housing data we had collected for the coastal classification including vacant dwellings, second homes, holiday homes and Airbnb properties, social housing, private renting, home ownership, type of dwelling, households in caravans and other temporary, mobile structures, housing of poor quality, housing with no heating, housing affordability and overcrowding. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. Lord Best also presented as did CEO Allister Young from the Coastline Housing Group, the latter agreed to participate in the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 4: Public Health and Wellbeing Research Group, East Sussex County Council |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Supporters |
| Results and Impact | Sheela Agarwal presented an overview of the project and summary of the CESA portal to the public health team at East Sussex Council. She was unaware of attendee or registration numbers. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 5: The Coastal Data Network: Using Data to Help Improve the Health of Coastal Communities Workshop, Centre for Coastal Communities, University of Essex |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | Sheela Agarwal presented an overview of the project and summary of the CESA portal to the University of Essex's Centre for Coastal Communities and the Eastern Arc. She collected feedback and answered questions from delegates, of which there were 38 people in attendance. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Stakeholder engagement event 6: Valuing the Voices of Women network, Brighton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sheela Agarwal presented a overview of the project and summary of the CESA portal to the Valuing the Voices of Women network organised by East Sussex and Brighton NHS and collected feedback. 60 people registered for this event, I'm unsure of the number who attended. Sheela took questions and feedback from attendees regarding the coastal classification. Overall, the feedback provided related to the classification itself, second, to the type of data that we should collect, thirdly, to the potential data sources to consider and include, fourthly, to the views of the CESA portal and finally, to feedback on the project's progress dissemination. With regards to the feedback on the classification, all participants were extremely supportive of the project and expressed the value in having accessible granular data and a definition of coastal community options to suit the variety of rural coastal and urban coastal settings which exist across England. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |