Seaside Residents Struggling

Britain’s coastal towns have the highest level of personal bankruptcies, new figures have revealed.

A decline in fishing, shipbuilding and seaside tourism in the UK have taken their toll, creating a whole new wave of residents in seaside towns being declared bankrupt in 2009. 

Hull tops the table, with 51 new cases per 10,000 adults – more than twice that of London’s 20 per 10,000, according to the research by accountancy group Wilkins Kennedy. 

Blackpool has the second highest, with 49 personal bankruptcies per 10,000. The popular resort, famous for its lights and amusements, is followed by Plymouth, with 46 personal bankruptcies and Eastbourne close behind with 44. 

Cardiff is the only coastal city out of the 50 largest UK towns and cities, which has a rate below the average, at 12.3. 

The results are significant because Plymouth, Blackpool and Hull were also top of the list for personal bankruptcies, according to figures released in 2008. 

The 2009 figures have revealed a whole new wave of residents being declared bankrupt in these areas. 

“Staycations have not bailed out the coastal economy,” Keith Stevens, Partner at Wilkins Kennedy said. “It is a worry that some of the coastal towns seem to have become production lines for personal bankruptcy.”

Many coastal towns and cities in the UK never fully recovered from their heyday, when the shipbuilding and commercial fishing industries thrived, Keith Stevens commented. 

Very few have been able to offer holiday makers an attractive alternative to foreign holidays, he said. 

Too many of these coastal towns also have a high proportion of residents employed on a seasonal or part time basis, he said. This means their earnings can be more erratic than people who work full time, Keith Stevens said.

He added that banks have been reluctant to lend to these seasonal workers, and when they do find funding it can often be at a very high interest rate. 

Posted at 04:10PM Sep 27, 2010 by Marc Stenton in Insolvency  |  Comments[0]