JJ pixs/ShutterstockWhen you think of the English seaside, what probably springs to mind are childhood summer holidays, donkey rides on the beach and scenic clifftop walks. The reality for young people growing up on the coast tells a different story.Today, some of England’s most deprived communities are coastal. Recent research suggests economic stagnation, climate change, housing, and transport connectivity are among the core challenges facing coastal areas. In 2021, Chris Whitty – England’s chief medical officer – published a report drawing attention to the poor health and low life expectancy of those in many coastal areas. Unemployment is also high in some coastal towns. And a recent study found that young adults on the English coast are three times more likely to have an undiagnosed mental health condition than those inland.Young people are often an afterthought in these reports, but in our ongoing research on young people’s experiences of growing up on the coast, we have learned that scarce leisure opportunities and crippled youth services are key challenges facing coastal youth. We spoke with 50 professionals from around the coastline about the range of issues facing 15- to 20-year-olds on the coast, and their suggestions for what can be done to address them.Young people are boredIt was pointed out by many of those we spoke to that, when the season ends and tourists go home, there’s next to nothing to do in their towns. In some areas, from October through April, cafes close, theme park rides grind to a halt and work opportunities dry up. Worse still, many towns have virtually no indoor spaces where young people can spend time. The beachfront in Blackpool, UK, in March 2025. Pajor Pawel/Shutterstock Like the rest of the country, youth services in these towns have been decimated by cuts. As our recent report points out, services that remain are overstretched and rely on patchwork, competitive, short-term funding.As many we spoke to suggested, because of this lack of resources, young people are, at best, bored. As a youth practitioner from Great Yarmouth put it: “You get a lot of young people congregating at the pier, just standing around looking for something to do.” Even the beach is not necessarily an appealing space to spend time – especially in winter. We heard reports of beaches that are considered unsafe or strewn with litter. In some towns, including Bridlington and Paignton, some young people have never visited their local beach. Unsurprisingly, many we spoke to were concerned that young people in their towns would leave when they were old enough and simply not return.At worst, young people are engaging in high-risk activities and entering unsafe environments. The lack of leisure activities means anti-social behaviour – including vandalism and violence – is widespread in some towns. And over half of those we spoke to raised concerns about the prevalence and risks posed to local youth by county lines activity. This is the supply and dealing of drugs between large cities and smaller centres, often involving vulnerable young people, and is a particular problem in coastal areas.Shoring up supportDespite widespread funding constraints, efforts are being made across statutory and voluntary services to support young people. What coastal towns need, though, is sustained, ring-fenced support for long-term projects. Our professionals made two key suggestions for improving the lives of the young people they work with.The first is to invest in safe spaces and leisure activities that are available outside of the short summer season. This could include skate parks, music venues and sports facilities. The intention is not just to keep young people out of trouble, but to provide spaces where they can socialise and enjoy themselves, and opportunities to build a sense of pride in where they live.The second suggestion is to invest in and rebuild youth services. The youth workers we spoke with are working hard to fill gaps left by public service cuts, but without the resources they need to do so. Funding is desperately needed to support, train and retain quality youth workers and other professionals, to create facilities and programmes embedded in local communities that respond to local need. They also call for improved youth mental health services to address limited availability and long waiting lists, a problem disproportionately affecting coastal areas. There are reasons for hope. Cross-party support for a UK government minister for coastal communities has grown, and the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Coastal Communities relaunched earlier this year, with young people at the heart of their agenda. Meanwhile, however, those working on the ground in coastal communities require fast action – during the process of writing our report, one of the youth centres we worked with closed down due to lack of funding.The cost of doing nothing – for coastal towns and the young people who live there – are severe. Young people’s mental health is at risk, particularly in the most deprived coastal communities, driven in part by economic and social challenges and geographic isolation. Failing to invest in the young people who live in these towns year-round risks a continued cycle of deprivation, poor health and wellbeing, and outward migration.Sam Whewall is the Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project, which receives funding from the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1Avril Keating is Project Leader for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project and receives funding from UKRI-Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1Emily Clark is a Research Assisant for the Coastal Youth Life Chances project, which is funded by UKRI-Economic and Social Research Council, Grant/Award Number: ES/X001202/1