Coastal Communities (Health) Bill

Ian Roome Excerpts

Friday 13th November 2026 Commons Chamber

[Ian Roome (North Devon) (LD)]

I greatly appreciate my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Steff Aquarone) for bringing forward this Bill on behalf of coastal communities around the country. Hundreds of families in North Devon have now spent three months without an operational maternity unit, and more than 200 births have been redirected over two hours inland to Exeter. It is not acceptable that an expectant mother in coastal towns such as Ilfracombe, Combe Martin or Lynton should have to travel so far to reach a hospital. It clearly amounts to a massive inequality in NHS healthcare.

Many of my constituents feel that if this crisis had struck in Exeter, Bristol or London, things would be very different. We would not have just warm words of sympathy from the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State; we would already have a solution. Many women have told me that the anxiety and worry that the travelling time has caused them is not acceptable and that it has caused many families to feel that the worst could happen while travelling, especially because our areas have a heavy volume of tourists and the roads are narrow.

[Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)]

My hon. Friend is making a fantastic speech. I pay tribute to him for all his hard work campaigning on North Devon district hospital; it is a national disgrace that we have not seen its maternity unit reopen. Does he agree that in areas like both our constituencies, poor rural transport is locking our constituents out of accessing healthcare? In North Cornwall, not a single town has a direct bus to a major hospital, which I find incredible in 2026.

[Ian Roome]

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point, and I totally agree. People in some areas of my constituency and my hon. Friend’s constituency use the hospital situated in my constituency, and it causes those families lots of worry. I appreciate all the work he is doing to help me on this campaign to get the maternity unit reopened.

Many of these coastal towns have only very basic healthcare provision locally, and that is reflected in people’s quality of life and life chances. Coastal healthcare is a crisis that overlaps with poor housing, few economic opportunities, limited transport, as we have just heard, and other disadvantages. In one part of Ilfracombe, life expectancy is a full 10 years lower than in other parts of Devon. This Bill rightly says that the Secretary of State should be made to come to this Chamber and account for those disparities.

Coastal towns have so much to offer, but across the country there is a pattern of too many coastal towns ending up in the category of “have nots”. A national strategy should exist to counter that and to deliver good healthcare for every coastal community. First-time parents in my constituency have been left all at sea. The Government must take this Bill seriously.