🌊 New blog: Making sure the coast is clear for offshore renewable energy How do we balance energy security, affordability, and sustainability – without harming coastal communities? Read more 👉 shorturl.at/gUjbQ

🌊 Does living by the coast really make you healthier? The latest research from the Centre for Coastal Communities finds that living in coastal areas is linked to a lower life expectancy - a small but statistically significant difference. Read our blog to find out why 🤔 bit.ly/4tdSsLe

🌊 Professor Sheela Agarwal, from our Centre, was on BBC Spotlight last night talking about her research into coastal deprivation. Well done Sheela 👏 Watch the spotlight interview 👇 from 3:55 www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... @plymuni.bsky.social #Ilfracombe #BBCSpotlight #CoastalDeprivation

🌍 Big news Sheela Agarwal & colleagues at the CCC have been awarded funding to tackle climate change. With €210k & expert support, @plymouthcc.bsky.social, Key Cities Innovation Network & @plymuni.bsky.social will develop a joined-up climate resilience strategy for coastal cities. bit.ly/4qcwBlj

The Government has a new plan to address decreasing survival rates for cancer patients in rural and coastal regions: www.theguardian.com/society/2026... #EndPostcodeLottery #CancerDoctors #RuralAndCoastal #NHSPlan #NationalCancerPlan #EarlyDiagnosis #CancerSupport #HealthPolicy #Healthycareforall

(2/2) targeted policy interventions to diversify coastal economies & improve infrastructure are needed. #CoastalCommunities #CoastalDeprivation #Inequality #HealthInequality #KeyCities @plymuni.bsky.social #APPG @ukparliament.parliament.uk Read more 👉 bit.ly/4bW02T5

(1/2) 📢📜 On Monday, Profs Sheela Agarwal & Sheena Asthana from the #CfCC contributed to the Key Cities Innovation Network report 'On the Waterfront' launched in Westminster. Their work explores the persistent socio-economic & environmental challenges facing the UK’s coastal cities, arguing that...

According to new research, almost 60% more litter can be found in the UK’s coastal communities than in inland locations. The study highlights how population density and location shape litter levels facing UK communities www.plymouth.ac.uk/news/study-h...

🏊‍♂️ People move to coastal areas for the health & wellbeing benefits of being by the sea, with many now enjoying cold water swimming. But, when water quality is questioned, these benefits are limited, especially during pregnancy. We welcome this new study from @plymuni.bsky.social 👇 #Coldwaterswimming

⭐🤖🐟 Say hello to Feb's #CHTResearcheroftheMonth Oksana Hagen! With her background in AI & robotics, as a Research Fellow on ICONIC, she improves wellbeing & access for older adults by leading co-design & building prototypes for 2 technologies: social prescribing voiceAI & VR underwater telepresence.

Another attendee has said, '(the) Majority of Mablethorpe's population are elderly and have migrated-in (which puts) massive impact on primary care services'

'Really interesting and fantastic resource. I have to go now, thank you so much for your time.' - Stakeholder

Another stakeholder has commented '...As it stands it looks like the tool (portal) will support people to make their own decisions on how to use the comparisons which is helpful.' #CoastalClassification @ukri.org

An attendee has commented on the portal that '...what is most useful is the ability to download what LSOA/OA are in each of the classifications without us having to calculate this. Is it possible to download the boundary files.' Alex is explaining how this is possible.

Sheela has put another question to our stakeholders: 'In terms of a coastal classification, should we avoid simplistic proximity-based definitions & instead restrict our classification to communities with a functional relationship with the coast and sea?' #CoastalClassification

We are looking at defining coastal areas based on distance from the coast and the function of an area (industry/social characteristics). We're collecting stakeholder opinions on what limits we should place on these definitions or on our approach.

A stakeholder on the call has disclosed that they had a similar issue deciding on whether Hull should be considered coastal, and they decided to exclude it #CoastalClassification

A question from Alex on the call: Should we include London in the classification? 1) No, if we're basing our classification on fringe, peripheral areas but 2) Yes, if we're basing our classification on environmental issues, particularly flooding & flooding defenses #CoastalClassification @ukri.org

A question for our stakeholders on the call: 'How should we treat rural localities which lie alongside the coast but which as inter-tidal areas, marshes or cliffs, have little connection with the sea - are they really coastal?'

Alex is discussing t/ CESA data portal. The portal makes health, econ., social & housing data available (to you, our stakeholders). There are 2 elements to our study 1) What is coastal? (working with stakeholders to define this) 2) How we use the data to define this & does this make sense locally?

Part of this classification is about recognising the diversity of the coast & the challenges e.g. vastly different outcomes on the coast at LSOA level compared to inland. How can we accommodate this? We may use different definitions of coastal depending on economic, social, environmental factors.

Our final stakeholder workshop this January, this time with the North of England on the English Coastal Classification, has just started. I will be posting live from the workshop. Professor Sheena Asthana is introducing the project #EnglishCoastalClassification #CoastalDeprivation #CoastalGeography

Thank you to those who joined us on the call today, it was great to hear all your views. The next workshop (for the North of England) is on Monday 27th January. Contact [email protected] if you're interested in joining us. #EnglishCoastalClassification @ukri.org

Another comment from a participant: '..The portal is really impressive and it has been great to have the opportunity to explore the tool. I really appreciated being able to access an available list of the CESA data to see what is available for particular statistical geographies e.g., child poverty.'

A comment from our Principle Investigator, explaining that: 'The statistical analysis is the next stage after we have collated the data. So, we will explore relationships to perhaps identify clusters of factors that seem to differentiate areas'

Moving on to a discussion around the how the portal will be used to inform the Coastal Classification...

Alex is now talking about the difficulties of using OA, LSOA and MSOA level geographies... Our problem is that, if you are looking for info about particular areas, there are endless geographies which present this information in different ways... We are looking at the LSOA '21.

Another comment: 'You have attempted to avoid areas which might be classified as 'rural' from falling into a definition of 'coastal' by using BUA Proximity?... Is there a danger of areas which are at the intersection of rural/coastal falling through the gaps in this?'

Great comments coming from stakeholders, 1 in particular which raises the problem around basing the classification on distance: '... if you use the 5km range Winchester would be inside the area, it is not coastal.'

Alex has started to explain the data portal and how it will be used by us to decide 1) What is coastal, which areas do we include & exclude in our definition. 2) The classification. And, how the data will be useful to our stakeholders beyond the project. #CoastalClassification

We want to look at the statistics which drive outcomes for people in coastal areas and that will inform our classification.

We have started our South East Stakeholder Workshop. Thank you all who've joined us. Sheena is introducing the project & explaining what today's session is about. #EnglishCoastalClassification #CoastalDeprivation #DataPortal

Tomorrow we will be hosting our second stakeholder workshop of the year, this time for stakeholders from the South East of England. We will be posting live from @bsky.app from 12:30pm. Please join us online for updates about the discussions.