When a seaside town becomes too popular...

[hell2bwith76]

I find most (if not all) the places I've witnessed changes in, were for the worse, not better.

Living where i do for all my life i notice that those who buy the dersirable properties and new Estates here have expanded the Town to three times it`s size so that it is now almost a part of the next Large City to us ! Then ,even more obvious ,they start to stand for Local Elections after living here for a few years and make even more "improvements" to the old Town . They consider themselves "locals " after living here for less than 10 years ffs !

 

[BronzeSquirrel]

They are moaning about visitors and yet St Ives is almost entirely focused on Tourism. I go to Cornwall every year. It's stunning. But there are plenty of places that are completely empty of tourists.

 

[breakwake_]

The next town to rely on tourism will be Hayle, when you see what they're building there on the sand dunes.

And guess what they're building?
Controversial housing development hosting £499 a night holiday homes - Free Chat Rooms

 

[hell2bwith76]

They are moaning about visitors and yet St Ives is almost entirely focused on Tourism. I go to Cornwall every year. It's stunning. But there are plenty of places that are completely empty of tourists.

Same where i live hence the Tourists have bought up property here ! They don`t work here though ,they commute and thus require more roads ,and as that don`t happen the roads in existence are gridlocked !

 

[Saphire]

The next town to rely on tourism will be Hayle, when you see what they're building there on the sand dunes. View attachment 9702View attachment 9703View attachment 9704

And guess what they're building?
Controversial housing development hosting £499 a night holiday homes - Free Chat Rooms

Pure greed...I know it's supply and demand, but when did people become so self-serving, the Thatcher era I suspect.

 

[Saphire]

I think it’s a global problem, not specific to any PM we have been ‘blessed’ with.

I tend to think the 'Greed is good'..'.I'm all right Jack' culture started in the 80's, and she certainly encouraged it in many ways...that's my opinion.
Re the building of houses and the renting of accommodation in popular coastal areas.
People have always loved having a place by the sea. Caravans and lodges have always been an ideal compromise, plus they are not depriving locals of homes.
Now, even they, have soared out of reach for so many. Many sites are charging 4 or 5 times more than they were, pre-pandemic.

It'll bite them in the arse though when people realise it's a lot cheaper to holiday abroad.
Greed often has a way of backfiring.

 

[breakwake_]

The mass development program started around the 50's or 60's, the decline of other industries and the switch to reliance upon tourism can't have been long after. People used to visit coastal area's for the air, first by horse and cart then by train and then by car. Now people move somewhere because it looks pretty. Caravans aren't a bad thing no but people will place a caravan on their land for a time and then they'll put in an application to erect a dwelling on the spot of the caravan, thats a known trick. Its all run by greed. The population of Cornwall can grow around 500,000 during the summer months, its normal populace numbers 550,00, thats nearly 1 million people all on infrastructure thats designed for a population total of 400,000 people, which then still relies on roads designed for horse and carts. Whats annoying is that people think Cornwall relies on tourism and that we all benefit from it, few people beneft from tourism and its only 12%of Cornwalls GDP.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I think the whole culture exploded later then the 80s though. People were led to believe they didn’t have to earn money, it was a right. You only have to look at ‘social influencers’ worldwide to see where that leads. If Maggie was guilty of introducing policies that encouraged such beliefs then so did almost every western government.
For instance just look at the land, property that Bill Gates is currently amassing… farmland that is being take from farmers, sea front property that will never return to ‘normal’ folk. As I say, it’s not just a national problem.

Some of us were alive and grown up in the 1980`s and i guarantee that MT did help to push up the numbers of "owned " properties . I can`t say what ill effect it had on our society but the facts are MT forced all Councils to offer their properties for sale to the current tenants at up to 60% discount ( on value). Many people took advantage of the offer and ,quite sneakily in my opinion , often used their parents to buy their house which they couldn`t afford ( even at discount) whilst they still lived in their own property, rented or bought . The discount which was offered to persuade long term tenants to buy was meant for them ,not their children ! but if the kids were well off it meant they could buy a house at cut price( for their parents of course) and still own their own property too.
One problem with the whole issue of ordinary people owning their own property was that Councils were FORCED to sell them but the income from the sale was NOT allowed to be used to build more houses ! I`m not sure of the thinking behind that but it was a major sticking point when Council stocks ran down.

 

[Saphire]

Some of us were alive and grown up in the 1980`s and i guarantee that MT did help to push up the numbers of "owned " properties . I can`t say what ill effect it had on our society but the facts are MT forced all Councils to offer their properties for sale to the current tenants at up to 60% discount ( on value). Many people took advantage of the offer and ,quite sneakily in my opinion , often used their parents to buy their house which they couldn`t afford ( even at discount) whilst they still lived in their own property, rented or bought . The discount which was offered to persuade long term tenants to buy was meant for them ,not their children ! but if the kids were well off it meant they could buy a house at cut price( for their parents of course) and still own their own property too.
One problem with the whole issue of ordinary people owning their own property was that Councils were FORCED to sell them but the income from the sale was NOT allowed to be used to build more houses ! I`m not sure of the thinking behind that but it was a major sticking point when Council stocks ran down.

I agree with this.
Thatcher also encouraged people to buy none council property. Millions did, then interest rates soared, many couldn't afford the mortgage, they ended up in negative equity, worse off than ever.
Council houses were not replenished, so many ended up renting privately paying inflated rents.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I don’t doubt a few abused the opportunity that was presented to them, but I’m sure the vast majority were people who were just glad to be on the property ladder. If you think the majority were solely in it for profit I think that you are wise of the mark, but that’s just my opinion.
Should more, and more affordable, social housing have been built since that time? Most certainly.

Like myself who worked in a factory many of my workmates would never have been able to buy a house on their wages( even though we earned good money with overtime). The Carrot was the discount offered ,up to 60% property value.
Example is average rent was around£10 week . Dont sound much but the cost of a mortgage was more like double that. Hence they were buying a house for the same price as renting it if they qualified for ( ex) 50% discount. Who could resist that ?.
Actually ,i have a friend who has a biggish family . All the kids bar one left home ,married etc. The one who stayed cut in with her Mom to buy their Council house and now she is 50% owner of that house .She lives with her partner in another Town in a Council Flat or bungalo whish gets A rate rebate for as he is on a lower income . The facts about Council House sales with the offers are quite complex and prone to abuse in my opinion.
Incidentaly i think they are still selling Council Houses and now i remember ,i tried to buy mine long before the "Right to Buy" rules came in many years ago. My head is clear now i was on good money when we had our first house ,a 3 bed Council one ,but my wage did include ibligatory overtime and Mortgage Lenders wouldn`t include overtime when checking wages.They do allow it now i believe.

 

[hell2bwith76]

I agree with this.
Thatcher also encouraged people to buy none council property. Millions did, then interest rates soared, many couldn't afford the mortgage, they ended up in negative equity, worse off than ever.
Council houses were not replenished, so many ended up renting privately paying inflated rents.

Another thing which i just remembered about the "right to buy" rules brought in by MT. Shortly after the rules came in the Council Rents went sky high ! and regularly too. I had always refused on principle to purchase our house in this way ,even though i could now afford to .The Council rents went so high that i had to question my Principles and check just how much it would cost for me to purchase our house with the discount .It was absolutely crazy . We had the max discount through living in Council House for well over 20 years so i decided to go for it .
Then ,about a year later ( and spread over that time ) the mortgage rates went up by silly amounts to over 18% .Luckily i still had well paid job a nd the low mortgage we had due to the big discount still allowed us to live ok . Then it settled down and reversed again. Council rents went sky high and mortgage rates fell . I remember paying £60 a month when my rented neighbours in same type house were paying something like £200 a month !

 

[Altair]

I have a sacred spot in a wood.. Not far from where I live. NO FUckEr can buy it or own it.

 

[Altair]

I agree with this.
Thatcher also encouraged people to buy none council property. Millions did, then interest rates soared, many couldn't afford the mortgage, they ended up in negative equity, worse off than ever.
Council houses were not replenished, so many ended up renting privately paying inflated rents.

I have some rental properties. What makes you say My rents are 'Inflated'?.

Local Council Rent's are pretty much the Same as Mine.!

 

[breakwake_]

Thatcher must have done quite a bit involving housing, it was around the 70's that the bungalows in my road were built. Workers at the local foundary bought plots of land and built them. Restrictions were increased on what buildings could be awarded Protected Status too which resulted in buildings being demolished to make way for housing. Then the Competition Authority decided there were too many foundaries in the UK so they were all merged into just a couple which were then sold off to foreign countries. This resulted in the loss of over 2000 jobs in my town alone, which have never been replaced. I know there was a time when it was thought that old buildings and industry were thought of as holding regions back, desk bound jobs and offices being seen as the future. Things haven't changed much, for the better at least, since then, all I've seen in my life is housing being built with various excuse as to why we we need it. Housing nowadays is seen as an investment, people that buy as an investment want house prices to rise so they gain more capital, whereas people simply wanting a home to live in want prices to drop so they can afford somewhere to live. We're told we need more housing built so that demand can be met and house prices can drop but when you have the whole of the UK wanting to live in a region then you're never going to meet demand. Homes are built but they're out of the price range of people who have to be on the dole due to lack of paying jobs. Its all about money.