Would this offend you?

How silly of the newbie’s.

They obviously didn’t do their research before moving.

It’s like moving next to a main road and complaining about the noise from vehicles.

I think it’s petty. Some people move next door to a pub and then complain about the noise. Let the surfers have their fun.

No.

I doubt it’s a pleasant sight in many cases. They are probably committing an offence.

What offence would that be? As has been said, most try to be as discreet as possible. I doubt they are parading up and down in the buff! There are far worse things to be getting one's knickers in a twist about.

Absolutely not ! Your new neighbours need to find something serious to complain about.

Is anyone forcing them to look?

It isnt really about offence or whether people are forced to look, it will be about the law.

Some people will always find something to complain about. What is it that worries them exactly. Are they doing it in front of their windows? If not, why bother.

No it would bother me. Just don't look! Newcomers should not seek to change established customs, if they want to get on with their newly adopted community. I imagine that would be pretty much a thing where there are surfers and if I lived where you live OP, I wouldn't want to drive the surfers away so I would refuse to sign the petition too. Personally, I think surfing looks absolutely exhilarating and it's great that it has become a growing pursuit here now.

Maybe the answer is for the council to provide some sort of changing facility.

How far do you strip off to don a wet suit?

It wouldn’t offend me so long as they were being as discreet as possible, which apparently they are.

Maybe the new family have children or grandchildren and don’t want to see people changing in public. Maybe when they bought the house they didn’t realised this happened. To be fair I probably wouldn’t. It sounds inappropriate to me and proper changing facilities should be provided or the surfers kept to one discrete area. It will be interesting to see how many signatures the petition gets.

Most of them around here (not so much surfers, but wild swimmers) use the dry robes for changing anyway, so you'd have to be looking awfully closely to spot anything interesting!

It wouldn't bother me in the least. Wouldn't be the first time I have seen a body for goodness sake!

When we went diving people got into their wetsuits on the beach. How far away are the people changing from the houses?

It’s no worse than people changing on a beach, and we’ve all done that. I would refuse to sign the petition too; it’s ridiculous. Perhaps you should start a counter petition - give ‘em something to think about!

It wouldn’t bother me but if I had children it probably would.

No it wouldn’t bother me . I have family in Cornwall and a lot of the surfers there have camper vans and change there . Also the few times I’ve surfed or windsurfed I’ve worn my costume under my clothes and even though I’ve stripped off my clothes to get into a wetsuit , everything is still covered . And afterwards I’ve used a large towel to change under . This was before dryrobes .
It sounds like the newbies didn’t do their research before buying .
My husband clayshoots and people move nearby and complain about the noise . It’s 4 hours and on 2 Sundays a month.

I agree with 25avalon
If the surfers and long-standing residents are used to it, maybe they’ve gradually acclimatised to more bare flesh over the years.
I wonder if their home gives them a different view/angle to other homes. If the surfers are not using dry changing robes then it would seem a simple solution for everyone.

No it wouldn't bother me . I am of the generation where we used to try and wiggle out of our wet swimsuit while mom held a towel round us. Many people must had a glimpse of my bare bum if mom wasn't quick enough when I bend over like we did with everyone else doing the swimsuit or trunks wriggle .

Very petty. I wouldn’t sign either.

If they are discreet that fine and you don’t have to look. So no would not worry me. I wouldn’t sign the petition.