Yorkshire and the Humber named worst place in England to withstand shocks like Covid pandemic and Brexit
Yorkshire and the Humber is the region worst placed to withstand major shocks such as the Covid pandemic, the cost of living crisis and Brexit, new research has found.
In particular, coastal and rural communities will struggle, Health Equity North and the University of Manchester said, which is combined with a significant North-South divide,
The academics calculated a community resilience index for every region and local authority in England.
This was not based on individuals’ character but the level of infrastructure in an area, as well as employment and education opportunities.
The index gave Yorkshire and Humber the lowest resilience score, behind the North East.
While London and the South East were classified as the most resilient regions.
Christine Camacho, lead author and PhD fellow at Applied Research Collaboration Greater Manchester, said this was the first time community resilience has been measured in this way.
“There is quite a complex interplay of economic, social and geographical factors that are leading to those differences,” she told the Yorkshire Post.
“For coastal and rural areas there are some unique challenges, such as limited access to services, fewer employment opportunities and more reliant on industries such as agriculture and fishing, which are vulnerable to quick changes in those economies.
“These places also have less infrastructure to connect people to resources.”
Ms Camacho explained that historical factors are also important, such as deindustrialisation “which is still leaving a legacy to this day”.
She said that is why there is still a large variation in scores across Yorkshire, with places like Harrogate classified as very resilient while former mining areas like Doncaster are struggling.
Charlie Dewhirst, the new Conservative MP for Bridlington and the Wolds, has made revitalising the seaside towns in his constituency one of his main priorities.
He said: “This report underscores the urgent need for targeted action to address the health inequalities faced by our coastal communities.
“No one should be disadvantaged because of where they live.
“That's why I led a debate in Parliament this week urging the government to make Bridlington a trailblazer in addressing these inequalities.”
Ms Camacho said she hoped the research could be used by the government to tackle these regional inequalities, as “it’s not if but when there’s another pandemic”.
While new Shipley MP, Anna Dixon, added: “Fourteen years of Conservative government has left many areas across the country, including here in Yorkshire, with a struggling NHS, broken public services and poor quality infrastructure.
“One of the reasons I came into politics is my anger at the growing inequalities in health.
“In my constituency of Shipley, we see a 10-year gap in healthy life expectancy between residents living in villages just a few miles apart.
“The new Labour government, however, is a government of change and renewal. We will tackle these inequalities by building an NHS fit for the future, breaking down barriers to opportunity for people across the North and getting our economy growing again.”