Unwelcome

Day 359

16 May 2010

Swanage has a considerable number of second homes. People from other parts of the country who like to come on holiday here, have bought up a significant number of properties. Building contractors have bought up land in the area, and built "luxury apartments" to sell at inflated prices. I went out for a walk today and as I walked past one of these big buildings, I saw that there were only 5 cars parked in the private car park for the 20 or 30 flats. Either there were some remarkably conscientious, green people who don't need transportation living there, or the flats were empty because the owners were at their normal residence, somewhere else.

There is bad feeling about second home owners. These people are partly responsible (as is the popular public opinion) who raise the property prices beyond realistic and attainable for the average would-be property owner in the area. There are a lot of flats and "luxury" (what is so luxurious about them, I wonder?) homes which are built and aimed at the more affluent individual, and very little land devoted to affordable, realistically-priced homes for local people.

One could argue, on the other hand, that the second-home owners help to keep Swanage alive. Trades and businesses in the area benefit from weekenders and families coming down throughout the year, which is a different town to the one I grew up in, 20 years ago, where the town hibernated in Winter and many shops would shut in October and not open again until after Easter. Events like the Blues Festivals, folk festival and the Jazz festival also bring in great numbers of visitors which keep the B&B's, restaurants, and touristy shops busy and the second homes rented out.

Purbeck District Council have developed a core strategy aimed at maintaining and improving the area and looking at the issue of affordable housing. This is a welcome option (apart from those who don't want to see Purbeck land being used to build housing on - in my opinion an unrealistic idealogy in today's society), because this will bring in younger people with professional and vocational qualifications which will serve the community in many ways, and allow Purbeck to increase in vibrancy and opportunity. If these people aren't encouraged into the area (and there are many families who would love to live around here for a better quality of life and better work-life balance), then the town will suffer in the future. One thing that it is considered certain would affect the town deeply is the Purbeck Review of schools.

Tomorrow the Community Overview Committee (COC) meet at County Hall in Dorchester, to hear the views of headteachers, governors, parents, politicians and the public, with regards to the Purbeck Schools' Review. It is hoped that at the very least, DCC will carry out and Economic Impact Assessment in Swanage in order to find out how the town will fare if it lost all secondary education. People must realise that it is not just those with children who will be affected. If education in Purbeck was reshuffled the way Dorset County Council want it, families would not want to live here, and the area would be in danger of becoming a second-home haven. Or it could be set back those 20 years to the way it was.