The communities where 190,000 coal miners have lost their jobs since 1981 have not caught up with the rest of England – despite more than £630 million spent by Labour “regenerating” them since 1998, a report by MPs reveals this month.
Some 25 years after the miners’ strike, the Government has failed to co-ordinate the cash targeted by the Department for Communities and Local Government to revive the areas, says a report from the Commons public accounts committee.
The MPs conclude: “The department still lacks a clear vision and has no overarching strategy for the regeneration. In consequence, training and support to help the former coalfield communities find employment has been rarely linked to job opportunities created on coalfield sites.”
The report – which follows a National Audit Office investigation into a £1.1 billion spending programme to regenerate the areas – holds out the hope that if the Government can get its act together the remaining £400 million will be spent on better co-ordinated projects.
Whitehall produced some devastating statistics on the gap between the coalfield communities and the rest of England. They show that in most areas they still lag well behind. Life expectancy has improved over the last 15 years – with men expected to live until they are 78 rather than 76 and women to over 80. But this is still less than in the rest of the country – with the gap widening from one year to 1.3 years.
Similarly, substandard housing fell by 5 per cent but in the rest of England it dropped by 6.5 per cent – again widening the gap.
More disturbingly, alcoholism in former mining communities rose at almost double the rate of the rest of England – increasing the gap from 3.4 per cent to 6 per cent in six years from 2003 to 2009.
But the gap between coalfield communities and the rest of England in educational attainment among school leavers narrowed substantially between 2005 and 2008 – falling from 9.5 to 6 per cent as general standards rose.
And there was a dramatic drop in deaths from coronary heart disease – down 52 per cent in 15 years.
