This body of work was produced during a photographer in residence scheme by Stephen McCoy, initiated by the now defunct organisiation "Merseyside Arts". Using a 5x4 view camera he produced photographs of the residents and landscape of Skelmersdale. Skelmersdale was designated a "New Town"in 1961, designed to house overspill populations from the north Merseyside conurbation. With the economic downturn in the late 1970s large industrial employers left the town en masse, resulting in an increase in crime, drug abuse and poverty. Since 2006 efforts have been made to reverse this decline. The work was exhibited in Skelmersdale in 1984 and recently published as a Cafe Royal book.