Retirees bombarding our beautiful rural seaside area

OP how about you and your indigenous mates open up the village hall and decorate it nicely. Invite one and all and put on a bit of music and food. Ask them how they feel they could contribute to your community?

Its not a character flaw to like your town and neighbours and not want to see it rapidly change beyond recognition with all your friends and family leaving because they have to, not because they want a new adventure etc

but who says anyone has a god given right to live in the place they were born?

No one. But that doesnt mean people have to be happy about it when it it themselves and their families being priced out of where they have thoughg they were settled!

We used to live in Devon (moved from Notts) and we both worked. Our neighbours were from Hampshire, Dorset and Scotland. There was a few, mainly retired, Devonians on our street.
Many of the youngsters were on minimum wage (and not much in the way of work) and either still lived with their parents or struggled to rent.
The prices for new houses in the West Country are eye-wateringly expensive and the cost of living is higher.
What's more important - people or place? When I was widowed I chose people which why I'm back in Notts.

Economic landscapes aren’t static, they change over time. You might want your rural idyll to be all morris dancing and maypoles for evermore

Or you know maybe people just want towns that can attract/retain police/teachers/pharmacists/nurses/doctors/shop workers etc

The towns that get taken over with an influx of "london money" arent able to offer their key workers london wages to compete!

Agree witzend lots of inner city areas have been “gentrified”, and locals can’t get a look in, but who says anyone has a god given right to live in the place they were born? People are always moved around all over the world for jobs and a better future.

But when it happens, its not "a bit of movement in and out". It is one dominant demographic taking over and erradicating the diversity of the area.

Economic landscapes aren’t static, they change over time. You might want your rural idyll to be all morris dancing and maypoles for evermore, whereas populations change, people move in and out, some people will inevitably feel that any change is for the worse and blame those “outsiders” for anything negative.

It's not just lovely rural areas, though, is it?
In our corner of outer SW London, and the rest of it! - locals have been pushed out by others with more money for many years.
Lots of young parents with children can't begin to afford the kind of perfectly ordinary houses they grew up in.

Personally, dh and I will never be 'escaping to the country'. Many stays with friends in rural Devon cured us of that idea - needing to drive 10 mins every time you need a pint of milk - no thanks!

I can't believe Specs actually wrote that without tongue in cheek.

I echo BlueBelle's sentiments entirely. We moved into a small French village and are the only English people living here. The locals could not have been more welcoming and helpful. My husband was admitted to hospital within weeks of us moving and two neighbours came round to see if they could help and offered to drive me to the hospital.

I think there is a problem in UK with people buying second homes in coastal and country areas they do pay inflated prices and do not usually support the local economy.

The young folk moving out may be outpricing locals where they go - they may have fewer ties and will be able to flat/ house share which locals may not wish to do, you can’t say what the effect is they could be adding to the outpricing effect elsewhere in more urban communities. It’s swings and roundabouts.

Being disaplointed/upset at not being able to continue to live in your town is completely legitimate and does not make a person insular or unfriendly.

Who would be happy about that?

Is it just wealthier retired folk you don’t want in your community?

Not in isolation. But when there is a big influx of retired/semi retired big money it changes the whole market and economic landscape to make it a financially impossible environment for all other types of people to also continue to live among them!

No wonder immigrants get short shift when people from the same country are made so unwelcome.

They are not made unwelcome individuals may be very welcome indeed

It is the overall effect. Gentrification and pricing out of workers and professionals, which you cannot expect people to be happy about!

Do no young folk move out of your rural community to get better jobs/ experience life elsewhere?

Why cant you see how uncomparable that is? They arent going to be outpricing everyone else where they go!

if it were a doctor or nurse coming in to work would you criticise them?

Also not comparable because it is doctor and nurse types who are priced out by the London money effect. Making recruiting and retaining these kinds of workers all the more difficult.

Do no young folk move out of your rural community to get better jobs/ experience life elsewhere? Should they be criticised? Is it just wealthier retired folk you don’t want in your community? if it were a doctor or nurse coming in to work would you criticise them? This seems terribly divisive and discriminatory. Why don’t you campaign for a wall around your town and no one can come in or out- would that suit? These people are trying to build knowledge and connections by joining in, they are not isolating themselves and ignoring the locals they are bringing in some money and enthusiasm- tell them they aren’t welcome if that’s what you feel. Tell us where it is so we can avoid going there.

No wonder immigrants get short shift when people from the same country are made so unwelcome.

If people retire there, they contribute to the local economy and hopefully try not to upset local life, like objecting to church bells ringing. however, to own a holiday home that stands idle with half the lights out in the winter, can't be acceptable when it pushes the price up so that the locals font live there. I wander if these homes ever get squatters in.

Its not about not welcoming new people

Its about the people coming in who have purchasing power that local workers and professionals just cant compete with.

Its similar to how Portugese people are very welcoming AND ALSO unhappy about the influx of foreign cash wiping out the ecosystems and pricing out young families.

Being welcoming AND being upset about how unfair it is are not mutually exclusive

Bloody hell No one owns anywhere, no one has rights to say who comes to their village, town, country

No one is saying they do.

But I dont believe anyone who claims that they would be happy to be a worker in a town where there was no scope for people on average salaries for that region/town to hope to get a home!

People have always retired to the country but I can see it's difficult for residents. In many places, retirees replace the younger generation because its quite unusual for a rural area to have enough employment and the young like to spread their wings.

Hasn't it all got worse of late because of our rising population and the property market, especially in London and the South East? We moved south west because where we lived had two universities and a huge hospital. In the 30 years we lived there, the ring road went from having a few cars on it and being an easy way to cross town to being permanently gridlocked! It became a very stressful place to live.

It's crowded where we are now and it's obvious that the population is growing here too. I've found it hard to make friends but I'm working at it. I think families are more scattered now and people are busy and don't talk like they used to. Change happens, I can't see it getting better.
P. S. Re Scotland, I know a few people who have moved there for political reasons and a better health care system.

Count your blessings and stop grumbling. There are so many areas of the country that would be delighted to have incomers with money to invest locally. I understand the housing issue but in many northern towns, the incomers are mostly asylum seekers, refugees or other poor and disadvantaged people who are dispersed from London or the south east because rents are cheaper in the north west/north east.
I'm not complaining about offering support to disadvantaged groups wherever they come from. Compare and contrast though, the complaints about 'wealthy educated well meaning' people who get involved in local issues, so contributing time and money with the needs of the disadvantaged folks being shipped out of the south east. Many need a lot of support including housing, health, education and psychological help. Rochdale has the highest number of asylum seekers and like other towns in the north west is doing a sterling job in supporting them

Talk about a tale of two cities

I agree with Bluebelle. Surely there are no closed communities, so why call people incomers? Are there no outgoers, i.e. people with a bit of a sense of adventure who move out of these tight-knit, narrow communities to get a taste of elsewhere? It would be my first instinct if I lived in one of them. I wouldn't want to stay.

Bloody hell No one owns anywhere, no one has rights to say who comes to their village, town, country We need to mix it up a whole lot more our indigenous community is melting blimey sounds incestuous
Hooray for change, hooray for mixing up the stock, hooray for movement, hooray for a bit of difference

I blame escape to the country. We have londoners in my village who have escaped from london for very good reasons, we are lucky, they are nice and take part in activities. Times change op I am afraid, many of us don`t like change but it is what it is. I don`t like ghettos of any sort and particularly the new ones that have been thrust upon cities up and down the land but if people integrate and are kind, then goood for them

Transport and lack of local shop,s is a bigger problem than housing. No buses, people cannot get to work except by car. Not everyone can afford to run a car or two cars and buy a house