Socio-economic Decline and Adaptation: South Yorkshire's Former Coalfields

Abstract

Two decades after the year-long miners’ strike of 1984/5, this paper presents a contemporary account of the social and economic situation faced by ex-miners in South Yorkshire, uncovering those factors that continue to inhibit new employment and adaptation following the contraction of the coal industry. Forty-one in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with men who had worked in the region's coal mining industry for varying periods of time. The interviews were designed to examine many of the problems that have emerged following deindustrialisation and assess appraisals of retraining provision and prospects for employment. Findings increase understanding of issues endemic to many former pit villages including continuing high levels of localised unemployment and disproportionately high numbers of incapacity benefit claimants. A greater understanding of the reluctance of individuals to adapt, retrain and seek new, alternative employment will lead to more successful methods of dealing with the problems associated with continuing economic inactivity in the region's former coalfield communities and has many important consequences for existing regeneration programmes and employment initiatives.

Acknowledgements

The research on which this paper is based was commissioned by the Leverhulme Trust. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors. The authors gratefully acknowledge the former South Yorkshire coalminers who gave generously of their time in contributing to this research as well as the anonymous referees for their constructive comments.

Notes

¹ Objective 1 in South Yorkshire describes a £1.8 billion investment programme incorporating over £700 million from the European Union's Structural Funds designed to regenerate Europe's poorest areas through economic and employment development. South Yorkshire was designated an Objective 1 area and awarded the highest category of European support in 1999. The funding programme was launched in July 2000 and is due to come to an end in late 2006 (Government Office for Yorkshire and The Humber: Objective 1 Programme Directorate: http://www.goyh.gov.uk/objective1).

² Waddington et al. (2001) have provided a detailed study of the process and impact of deindustrialisation in the Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire coalfields, as well as a comparative review of adaptive management and regeneration strategies.

³ Namely Maltby, Hadfield, Kiverton, Armthorpe, Silverdale, Orgreave and Dinnington.