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I<\/span>t is a rainy Thursday in Whitehaven on the north-west coast of England, but the seafront is buzzing with activity. This Saturday is Harbour Fest, a day of music, performance and activities. An array of colourful street food vendors are already setting up.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unusual to see such excitement on the seafront, says 18-year-old Lacey Ritson. Growing up, Lacey and her friends would gravitate to picturesque Saint Bees along the coast or the nearby Lake District if they wanted to spend time by the water. And sometimes, she says, \u201cwe\u2019d sit by the river and look at people, guessing who worked at Sellafield \u2013 like, \u2018they\u2019ve got a nice car \u2013 they\u2019re from Sellafield\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Harbourfest brings people to the seafront for a day of music and performance in Whitehaven <\/span><\/p>\n Sellafield, Europe\u2019s largest nuclear site, looms large in Whitehaven at the centre of Britain\u2019s \u201cnuclear coast\u201d. While it has not generated energy since 2003, decommissioning is expected to take until at least 2125. Between Sellafield Ltd and its wider supply chain, the site employs about 60,000 workers, more than 80% from Cumbria.<\/p>\n The result is that everybody \u201ceither works at Sellafield or knows people who do\u201d, says Lacey, whose mum, aunt and cousins all work on the site. Whitehaven\u2019s young people have their own group speak: \u201cSellafield traffic\u201d for the tailbacks on surrounding roads at home time each weekday; \u201cSellafield payday\u201d as shorthand in hospitality for a busy weekend. Teenagers talk casually about \u201cgoing into nuclear\u201d.<\/p>\n The nuclear sector\u2019s influence is also felt economically: each year, Sellafield Ltd, its supply chain and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which owns the site, provide millions of pounds worth of funding for local projects, from the redevelopment of Whitehaven\u2019s former bus station to the creation of a new digital and gaming hub, and the cleanup of local rivers. This summer, the main stage at Pride was sponsored by engineering firm Mott MacDonald.<\/p>\n <\/span>Lacey, 18, says goodbye to her horse Lloyd, before she leaves Whitehaven to go to university<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say round here you are helped a lot more than other coastal towns just because of Sellafield and the companies that supply them,\u201d Lacey says.<\/p>\n Just over half of the population of Whitehaven (and neighbouring town Workington) are in work, a figure slightly below the England average, but there are notably more in apprenticeships than the country average.<\/p>\n For those who want to work at the nuclear plant, the career path can be lucrative, with apprentices earning up to about \u00a330,000 at Sellafield Ltd. But those who want something different can find themselves feeling cut off.<\/p>\n <\/span>The Sellafield nuclear plant, which is in the process of being decommissioned, provides an attractive career path for many in the town<\/span><\/p>\n At Soundwave, a music charity in Whitehaven town centre, 15-year-old Cole McAvoy is one of those forging a different path. He also attends art sessions at the LGBTQ+ cafe Colours, run by Proud and Diverse Cumbria whose sponsors include Morgan Sindall and engineering consultancy firm Arup. But he feels there is little else in Whitehaven for creative young people.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a career day at school with people from different workplaces and 99% of them were from Sellafield. It kind of makes you feel like there\u2019s just Sellafield or nothing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Q&A<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>Show<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Over the next year, the Against the Tide project from the Guardian\u2019s Seascape team will be reporting on the lives of young people in coastal communities across England and Wales.<\/p>\n Young people in many of England’s coastal towns are disproportionately likely to face poverty, poor housing, lower educational attainment and employment opportunities than their peers in equivalent inland areas. In the most deprived coastal towns they can be left to struggle with crumbling and stripped-back public services and transport that limit their life choices.<\/p>\n For the next 12 months, accompanied by the documentary photographer Polly Braden, we will travel up and down the country to port towns, seaside resorts and former fishing villages to ask 16- to 25-year-olds to tell us about their lives and how they feel about the places they live.\u00a0<\/p>\n By putting their voices at the front and centre of our reporting, we want to examine what kind of changes they need to build the futures they want for themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n <\/span>Cole McAvoy, 15<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs soon as you get into GCSEs it feels as if they\u2019re pushing you to do triple science and engineering. Those subjects go on trips, they\u2019ve got all this equipment, but if you study art you\u2019re just in a tiny classroom and the teachers and students are bringing in the equipment themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n There is also a high turnover in school staff, Cole says, with many teachers leaving for higher-paying careers in the nuclear sector.<\/p>\n In the town centre, at the Whitehaven Foyer, which provides temporary accommodation for young people, Sellafield is far from residents\u2019 minds, despite Arup renting office space here. Many of those living here are care-experienced or have experienced poor mental health; the number of young people in care and the number of mental health hospital admissions in the area are higher here than nationally.<\/p>\n This town would fall apart without Sellafield \u2026 other communities mirror ours but they just don\u2019t have this level of investmentEmma Williamson, Cumberland council<\/p>\n James, 19, has a Jobcentre appointment this afternoon but isn\u2019t optimistic; he has been trying unsuccessfully to get construction work for months in order to support his partner and two-year-old son. Mason, 17, is due to begin a college course next week but hasn\u2019t been able to get the art supplies he needs, because he can\u2019t afford the train fare to Carlisle. \u201cNuclear isn\u2019t really a thing for us,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re just thinking about how we\u2019re going to get money for what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n Emma Williamson, deputy leader of Cumberland council, and portfolio holder for children\u2019s services, says that, for her, the nuclear sector\u2019s impact is clear. \u201cThis town would fall apart without Sellafield,\u201d she says. \u201cI go to other communities that mirror ours but they just don\u2019t have this level of investment.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Emma Williamson, deputy leader of Cumberland council, with Rayna and Libby, both 18<\/span><\/p>\n But, she says, that doesn\u2019t make it a solution for everybody. \u201cWe know that for those that are going to achieve, the opportunities are there,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we need to be picking up all our young people and making sure there is a place for all kinds of jobs and opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, the government announced that parts of South Whitehaven would receive \u00a320m of investment over the next decade from its Pride in Place programme for \u201coverlooked\u201d communities. A residents\u2019 survey about how the money should be spent has already highlighted the need for better youth facilities and opportunities for young people, says Williamson.<\/p>\n <\/span>McDonald\u2019s, one of the only places where young people can hang out in the evenings. <\/span> Photograph: The Guardian<\/p>\n Suzanne Wilson, a research fellow at the University of Lancashire who works with communities in Whitehaven, says that despite the town\u2019s connection to a leading employer, many of its young people face a lot of the same issues as they do in more deprived coastal places. \u201cWe are quite remote and public transport is unreliable,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that affects what opportunities feel accessible to them.\u201d<\/p>\n She previously worked alongside the council on the university\u2019s Connected Communities project, in which a group of girls from Whitehaven carried out their own community research and projects, including setting up a dementia cafe when they found that older people were more likely to experience loneliness. \u201cIt showed the passion and empathy young people have for their local community, and how important it is to recognise their insight, skill and compassion and work with them to create opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Suzanne Wilson, at the University of Lancashire, says unreliable public transport restricts opportunities<\/span><\/p>\n Despite its sizable impact on their lives, Sellafield remains mysterious and inaccessible to many of Whitehaven\u2019s young people, most of whom have never visited. One told of her excitement about an upcoming apprenticeship on site, but withdrew her contribution when she began work and was told she could not be quoted for confidentiality reasons. (The company\u2019s press office told the Guardian that they ask colleagues to inform them before any media engagement and prefer to review quotes before publication.)<\/p>\n Jamie Reed, director of socio-economics at the NDA, was unable to meet the Guardian and local young people. In response to questions about whether all of Whitehaven\u2019s young people were benefiting equally from Sellafield\u2019s impact, Reed wrote in a statement: \u201cOne of our areas of focus is investing in developing Stem skills in young people so we have a pipeline of talent, but it\u2019s important to us that we fund a diverse range of projects.<\/p>\n \u201cAcross West Cumbria and the UK these include projects which provide mental health support, tackle issues around poverty and social inclusion, support innovation in the supply chain, and improve and protect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n For Lacey, who attended Energy Coast University Technical College, which is funded in part by the NDA and heavily invested in by the construction firm Morgan Sindall, a career in nuclear was always a consideration. And yet, she says, \u201cI didn\u2019t want to go and work there just because it\u2019s what so many other people do.\u201d Instead, she will soon begin an architecture degree at Newcastle University, one of only two peers going into higher education, most of the rest applying for nuclear apprenticeships.<\/p>\n <\/span>Lacey, 18, is one of only two of her peers leaving for university<\/span><\/p>\n At home, as she packs her belongings ready to leave, Lacey is contemplative. \u201cI\u2019ve never really thought much before about how Sellafield affects people, because it\u2019s just something that has always been there,\u201d she says, shrugging. \u201cIt\u2019s just part of growing up in Whitehaven.\u201d<\/p>\n Share your experience<\/p>\n You can share your experiences of living in a coastal town using this form.<\/p>\n Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For true anonymity please use our Secure Messaging service instead.<\/span>Show more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is a rainy Thursday in Whitehaven on the north-west coast of England, but the seafront is buzzing with activity. This Saturday is Harbour Fest, a day of music, performance and activities. An array of colourful street food vendors are already setting up. It\u2019s unusual to see such excitement on the seafront, says 18-year-old Lacey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[1003,2266,337,220,7008,364,15857,3947,1068,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-26384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-europes","9":"tag-growing","10":"tag-life","11":"tag-nuclear","12":"tag-oldest","13":"tag-people","14":"tag-sellafield","15":"tag-shadow","16":"tag-site","17":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}What is the Against the tide series?<\/h4>\n
Share your experiences<\/h4>\n