Recent news that the average visitor to Redcar spends just £1.70 typifies the problems of Britain’s many rundown seaside towns

Like others in a similar position, the local council is hoping to revive its leisure economy by spending £40 million on “regenerating” the seafront. But maybe it is time for Redcar and its counterparts to stop being resorts, or to drastically scale down their seaside economy. Given the availability of foreign beach holidays in warmer countries it is unrealistic for all of them to try to compete for the reduced patronage that remains. Perhaps it’s therefore time for a national strategy for rationalising them, and for resources on leisure development to be concentrated on those resorts that are still potentially attractive to holidaymakers.

For places like Redcar, spending £40 million on regeneration to try to stay as a tourist resort would be a waste of money. It would be better spent clearing away all the tourist tat and poor seafront facilities, abandon trying to be a holiday destination, and invest in the sort of infrastructure needed for regeneration of an ordinary non-seaside town.

Many towns by the sea need much better transport links, particularly roads. Having spent only one-quarter per capita on our national road system compared to most of our continental neighbours over the last 50 years, road access to many seaside towns is particularly bad. It deters new business and contributes to the high levels of unemployment many of these towns suffer.

Peter Phillips, Redhill, Surrey

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