For many people in the North of England and Southern Scotland .......
.... Blackpool is remembered as the 'Las Vegas' of the North. Sun, Sea, Saucy Postcards, and even Sex (if you weren't too fussy).
But things have gone very badly for this British institution over the last two decades. In fact the decline probably really started well before then, but the economic boom of the late 1980's and 1990's, hid the growing problems.
By almost every indices Blackpool is now in a terminal position as a place to live. For a start its now the unhealthiest town to live in the UK ..... not because of the sea air, or the now very clean beaches, but due to economic poverty that has afflicted the town. The best and the brightest leave the town each year, but there's an influx of the poorest and least adequate to replace them every year. They are drawn by the massive unrestricted growth in the number of HMO's (Homes of Multiple Occupancy), as defunct boarding houses are bought up and converted to bedsits.
This of course is a self fuelling cycle as the more HMO's, the more boarding houses go bust ..... only if the council refused conversion planning permission and licenses would this cycle end. But they don't, or wont stop this, possibly because too many people are making good money from this practice (Housing benefits can finance rents of around £35 -38k per annum on a converted boarding house). These bedsits attract a growing population of the unemployed, including many who require health benefits due to drug addictions and or chronic alcoholism, and this means that, combined with a higher than normal older population (a lot of people retire to the town), its England's unhealthiest town.
The council ward of bloomfield (next to football ground), is the unhealthiest district in England's unhealthiest town. More than half of the local population smokes, the highest rate in the country. One in three pregnant women continue to smoke right up to their admission in to hospital to give birth. Alcoholism is rife (there is an off-licence for every 250 people in Bloomfield alone), while deaths from drug abuse means that the ward rivals those of the worst estates in London or Glasgow.
This flood of bedsits, illicit cheap cigarettes, all-night drinking, and streets where the pay-day lenders and betting shops are a feature, means that the life expectancy of 73.8 years for males, is the worst in England, and in one council ward (probably bloomfield), men are predicted to have failing health by the age of just 47.
Other indices of the total failure of the town are that:
Like the housing costs, the living expenses in the town are not low enough to account for the very low wages and poorly paid job market in Blackpool.
Blackpool also has the distinction of being one of the, if not the, most dangerous place to drink in the UK. Figures show that in Blackpool, 123.05 people per 1,000 ended up in hospital after a night drinking in the stag and hen party town. The newspaper report in the Independent newspaper said 1,230.5 people per 1,000 but as the next worse was 82.5 per per 1,000, I believe that was a misprint.
..... As I saw one resident describe it ..... "Go back a few streets from the prom and you will see the deprivation, the ghettos and the scummy pubs that make up the real Blackpool."
Its all rather sad for a once great northern town ..... a mixture of council ineptitude, government indifference, and social deprivation of aspiration has brought the town to its knees. Ironically just a few miles away, the outlook for residents of many of the satellite towns such as Poulton-le-Fylde or Lytham St Annes are often very different, even allowing for the all pervasive drugs that are a problem everywhere in the UK. So its not the location that's the issue in Blackpool.
 |
| Blackpool As Tourism Portrays It ..... Not Always The Reality |
.... Blackpool is remembered as the 'Las Vegas' of the North. Sun, Sea, Saucy Postcards, and even Sex (if you weren't too fussy).
But things have gone very badly for this British institution over the last two decades. In fact the decline probably really started well before then, but the economic boom of the late 1980's and 1990's, hid the growing problems.
By almost every indices Blackpool is now in a terminal position as a place to live. For a start its now the unhealthiest town to live in the UK ..... not because of the sea air, or the now very clean beaches, but due to economic poverty that has afflicted the town. The best and the brightest leave the town each year, but there's an influx of the poorest and least adequate to replace them every year. They are drawn by the massive unrestricted growth in the number of HMO's (Homes of Multiple Occupancy), as defunct boarding houses are bought up and converted to bedsits.
 |
| The Mean Streets Of Blackpool Indeed ..... |
This of course is a self fuelling cycle as the more HMO's, the more boarding houses go bust ..... only if the council refused conversion planning permission and licenses would this cycle end. But they don't, or wont stop this, possibly because too many people are making good money from this practice (Housing benefits can finance rents of around £35 -38k per annum on a converted boarding house). These bedsits attract a growing population of the unemployed, including many who require health benefits due to drug addictions and or chronic alcoholism, and this means that, combined with a higher than normal older population (a lot of people retire to the town), its England's unhealthiest town.
The council ward of bloomfield (next to football ground), is the unhealthiest district in England's unhealthiest town. More than half of the local population smokes, the highest rate in the country. One in three pregnant women continue to smoke right up to their admission in to hospital to give birth. Alcoholism is rife (there is an off-licence for every 250 people in Bloomfield alone), while deaths from drug abuse means that the ward rivals those of the worst estates in London or Glasgow.
This flood of bedsits, illicit cheap cigarettes, all-night drinking, and streets where the pay-day lenders and betting shops are a feature, means that the life expectancy of 73.8 years for males, is the worst in England, and in one council ward (probably bloomfield), men are predicted to have failing health by the age of just 47.
Other indices of the total failure of the town are that:
- The antidepressant prescription rates are twice the national average.
- The town is ranked fifth in the country for its suicide rate.
- It has the highest rate of deaths from heroin overdose in the country, and almost double that of the town with second highest, Burnley.
- Hospital admissions of drug-takers are eight times higher in Blackpool than London.
- In common with towns and cities across the country the use of the drug Spice is noticeable.
- Only 65% of people in the area employed and
- For those who are working the weekly gross income in Blackpool is also among the lowest on the table, at £417.10.
- Each household also has an average disposable income of £13,848 per year.
Like the housing costs, the living expenses in the town are not low enough to account for the very low wages and poorly paid job market in Blackpool.
Blackpool also has the distinction of being one of the, if not the, most dangerous place to drink in the UK. Figures show that in Blackpool, 123.05 people per 1,000 ended up in hospital after a night drinking in the stag and hen party town. The newspaper report in the Independent newspaper said 1,230.5 people per 1,000 but as the next worse was 82.5 per per 1,000, I believe that was a misprint.
..... As I saw one resident describe it ..... "Go back a few streets from the prom and you will see the deprivation, the ghettos and the scummy pubs that make up the real Blackpool."
Its all rather sad for a once great northern town ..... a mixture of council ineptitude, government indifference, and social deprivation of aspiration has brought the town to its knees. Ironically just a few miles away, the outlook for residents of many of the satellite towns such as Poulton-le-Fylde or Lytham St Annes are often very different, even allowing for the all pervasive drugs that are a problem everywhere in the UK. So its not the location that's the issue in Blackpool.
Interesting figures. Decline of that magnitude has to be the fault of the Local Council.
ReplyDeleteI checked that and the council apparently claims the problems on:
Delete1). Poor funding (in common with a number of seaside towns).
2). Problem dumping by other local authorities.
3). Poor transport infrastructure (They have apparently needed a bypass north of Blackpool for decades).
However, I know people in the area who say that
1. There has been virtually job investment in decades.
2. No restrictions on the creation of HMO's which drives families away and has increased begging and street crimes and drug taking.
3. No attempt to modernise The Lights or create covered pedestrian areas to make the town more bad weather resistant.
4. The shop frontages are run down and poorly maintained.
Personally I think you and the areas residents are right, but I try to maintain balance where possible.
Thanks for the comment as usual.