Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if the Government will bring forward a strategy to improve economic growth in coastal communities.

Through our Coastal Communities Fund, which ran until 2022, we supported a huge number of projects in communities across the country, with a total investment of £187 million. We continue to level up our coastal communities with the £2.6 billion UK Shared prosperity Fund which will unlock further economic growth across the country, including in coastal areas.

In addition to this, seven out of the eight English Freeports are in coastal areas, while two coastal areas of Scotland have just been announced as successful following the Green Freeport bidding process. We continue discussions with the Welsh Government regarding the freeport programme in Wales.

Furthermore, 22 coastal areas are benefiting from over £673 million of investment via the Towns Fund. Such communities also continue to benefit from the Levelling Up Fund, where we have just announced our support for over 100 more projects, including in the coastal communities of Blackpool, Cleethorpes and Great Yarmouth.