Mission-critical neighbourhoods: Why Blackpool South Must Be at the Heart of National Renewal

My hometown of Blackpool is full of character and resilience. Its people are proud, its communities are close-knit and, despite facing more than a decade of neglect, we remain hopeful about the future.

You don’t have to spend long in my constituency of Blackpool South to feel the warmth and strength of our coastal spirit. But as the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods makes clear in its recent report, our communities have been asked to bear more than their fair share of this country’s hardship.

The Commission identifies “mission critical neighbourhoods” – places that are furthest from achieving the government’s five missions on health, education, crime, skills and prosperity. These are the neighbourhoods where need is deepest and yet progress is the hardest to make – where economic and social challenges reinforce each other in a cycle that’s incredibly difficult to break.

And nowhere is that more stark than in Blackpool South, where we have 34 mission-critical neighbourhoods – more than any other constituency in the country. That represents nearly every part of our town – where 97.8% of our population lives, including me. 

I see the impact of this daily – the exhausted public services, the empty shopfronts, the health inequalities, and the frustration that many feel when they see new developments, new initiatives, and new opportunities as being for someone else.

Volunteering for Blackpool Foodbank

In ICON’s focus group in Blackpool, that sentiment came through powerfully. It found fatalism and deep dissatisfaction with the state’s performance over the past decade. Now, with a Labour government in place, we have a chance – and a responsibility – to turn the tide for coastal neighbourhoods like mine.

I welcome the government’s £1.5 billion Plan for Neighbourhoods. The Prime Minister’s commitment to expanding neighbourhood policing, empowering communities and giving people a real stake in their future is the right one. We must rebuild trust – street by street.

I hope that the forthcoming spending review will include Blackpool South among the areas benefiting from this plan. Because while the Plan is welcome, its current reach is too limited and excludes my constituency. Hundreds of neighbourhoods across the country – including the 34 here – urgently need investment. 

My jobs fair in Blackpool was about giving people vital opportunities

We must go further and focus hyper-locally – on the neighbourhoods where challenges are concentrated and where people’s lives are being shaped by inequality from birth.

ICON’s report tells us that where a child grows up has a lifelong impact – on education, health, income and life chances – something that is starkly apparent in Blackpool, where cycles of poverty deepen with each generation. 

In my own child poverty survey locally, 90% of respondents said financial stress was robbing children of the joys of childhood, and two-thirds said it was damaging their mental and physical health. These families aren’t just struggling – they’re being denied their basic needs: food, clothing and adequate housing. I’m proud that this government is working on a new child poverty strategy – but it must be backed by real, targeted action at the neighbourhood level.

We know that deprivation is damaging our skills base. In mission-critical neighbourhoods, a third of adults have no qualifications and half are economically inactive. In Blackpool, 7% of 16-17-year-olds are not in education, employment or training – more than double the Lancashire average. This is not just a tragedy for those young people – it’s an economic waste we cannot afford.

Crime, too, is concentrated. Over 40% of all anti-social behaviour incidents in Blackpool happen in just three areas. But where we’ve focused, we’ve seen progress. In Brunswick ward, thanks to the multi-agency Youth ASB Group, there’s been a 45% drop in youth-related incidents. That’s the power of local, collaborative, neighbourhood-based work.

I’ve been working closely with Lancashire Police

The same applies to health. Research from the Centre for Coastal Communities shows that young people in coastal towns like Blackpool suffer worse health outcomes on almost every measure. This is avoidable. And, as ICON’s report rightly states, lifting health outcomes in these places would raise median health outcomes for the entire country.

There are beacons of hope in Blackpool – like the Claremont Project. Driven by our local Pride of Place Board and supported by Lancaster University’s Health Engagement Team, it brought together public health experts, community leaders and academics to design a neighbourhood intervention based on research, respect and real community insight. This project is a model for how to rebuild trust and tackle entrenched disadvantages, with leadership from those who know their neighbourhoods best.

ICON’s report concludes that the overlap of health, education, economic and social inequalities in mission-critical neighbourhoods isn’t coincidental. It’s the result of systems that haven’t worked for decades – systems that treat every town the same, or worse, overlook the parts of towns most in need. But we know where to focus. We know who needs the most help. And we know how to do it – by empowering neighbourhoods, listening to communities and targeting support where it will have the greatest impact.

Blackpool South needs this government to invest in its future. Because if we are serious about delivering a decade of national renewal, then that renewal must begin in constituencies like mine.

And when Blackpool South succeeds, Britain succeeds.