One year, 17 towns, dozens of voices: what we heard along the coast of England and Wales

Reporting from some of the poorest seaside towns revealed how young people have been left isolated – but remain resilient and full of hope If you were asked to summon up images of the coastline of England and Wales, you might think of sunny days, buckets, spades and carefree holidays. But for many young people growing up by the sea, decades of evidence tell a very different story. For them, rather than a picture-perfect horizon full of hope, the sea has become a boundary that swallows up opportunity. With a 73% decline in funding for youth services in England over the past 12 years, and a lack of opportunities that has led to nearly 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds not in work, education or training (Neet), the situation for young people, especially in places of deprivation, has never seemed more desperate. On our journey around the coast we saw this first-hand – young people who had become isolated and despondent. For decades, they have taken the blame, with countless media articles describing them as “lazy” or “feral”, and their towns as “scum”. Over the next year, the Against the Tide project from the Guardian’s Seascape team will be reporting on the lives of young people in coasta