Purely by chance this morning I watched "Cornwall with Simon Reeve" (Thursday 26 November). If you get a chance do watch it. This episode was focussed on the job market in Cornwall; amid the many second homes and upmarket restaurants it has some of the most deprived parts of the UK.
The major issues are that there are very few "career jobs" most are part-time summer jobs and so young people are leaving the county. The major industries such as mining (tin, copper and china clay) and fishing have either closed or require far fewer staff thanks to mechanisation. So many of the towns built on these industries are in rapid decline and nothing has replaced them.
It showed a group of young people who collectively ran some mobile catering outlets on the beach did manage to make a go of it this year despite the pandemic. They have made enough money to take an eight year lease on some premises and start a new restaurant - but not in Cornwall as there are no affordable sites.
Ironically the growth in working from home may be part of the salvation of this part of the country as some of the second homes (in some small towns and villages more than 50% of the dwelling are second homes) may become year round homes which will help sustain holiday towns in teh bleak mid-winter months.
There are no quick and easy answers to the problems of Cornwall and I am sure that there are other areas that have similar problems. I am not posting this to start a "social media debate" as they generally end up in hurling slogans at one another. Rather do watch this programme and think about how we can solve these major structural problems that we have in the UK.
We need a grown up intelligent debate, sadly they are few and far between these days. How we start one is the big question.
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