Enjoying the Somerset levels?
Is it unfair to say Somerset has something of an image problem? For many it’s that place you drive through when you are on the way to Devon or Cornwall. Or perhaps even Dorset. While cricket fans with longer memories can only just about recall the days when Botham and Richards meant Taunton really was a destination.
Which is all the more odd, given that the county boasts a 45 mile long coast line, innumerable beautiful hills and moors; is home to the world’s most widely known cheese (this is clearly important) and plays host to the internationally renowned Glastonbury festival.
But before the rebranding agencies get too excited, a recent tranche of headlines suggest I’ve got this all wrong with the FT breathlessly declaring The market goes ‘ballistic’ as the Notting Hill set decamps to Somerset ahead of The Times’ equally unsubtle Priced out of the Cotswolds? Here’s where to buy in Somerset.
Personally I’m not sure which type of ballistic applies to the recent arrival of George Osborne. But the figures suggest the message is finally sinking in that for Londoners (for it is always about London) the advantage of your rural/coastal retreat being a three hour drive as opposed to five is clear and obvious.
Which is great, but it would be good if while they are enjoying the local delights, our Chancellor’s (current, as well as former) also note that things are not all that great for the locals, for much of the time. Unemployment in much of the county is seasonal, and therefore disproportionally bad when the weather turns, while West Somerset boosts the oldest per-capita population in the whole of the UK. Anyone young, with any ambition, heads towards the nation’s cities at the earliest opportunity. Not everyone aspires to be, or indeed can be, an artisan.
Add to this, Treasury figures which confirm the South West is among the regions receiving the least public spending per head of population and the situation looks rather stark.
Levelling up, it seems, has been taken literally. Focus only heads north not west. But for the county and indeed the region to become less dependent on tourism and second home owners, there needs to see more support and inward investment.
The work of the Onion Collective is a fantastic example of social enterprise-led regeneration, with its development of the East Quay Arts Centre in Watchet. But this is one of very few examples where the needs of the region are being addressed. It would be great, if while patronising the local suppliers on weekends away, weekdays were also focussed on doing more to ensure there are many more of them.
