To detest people that think they own beautiful parts of the world?

[Bumpitybumper]

I grew up in a very ugly and undesirable part of the country and now live in a tourist hotspot. I am becoming increasingly frustrated by people that are born and raised here trying to restrict tourism or stop 'outsiders' moving here. The houses are expensive here because it's such a lovely place to live but there isn't much employment except for from tourism. Despite this many locals that I know feel that tourism should be restricted as it makes the town extremely busy in high season. They also think housing should be subsidised for locals.

I feel that there are only so many beautiful places and those lucky enough to be born in them are no more entitled to live and enjoy them than the rest of us who by luck were born elsewhere. This would effectively condemn future people like me to live and visit only the less desirable of areas whilst my children could stay in this lovely area and be subsidised for doing so. It just feels incredibly unfair!

Do londoners own london?

I think it’s entirely reasonable for people who were born and raised in a particular area to be able to buy or rent a property in that area, if that’s what they want to do. They may wish to be near family and friends. They may have work locally. They may simply want to stay where it’s familiar.

no one seems to think this about Londoners though.

And then they get criticised for moving to other areas when they are priced out of their own

In all honesty over half of the shops and restaurants would shut here if there wasn't tourism. Tourists maybe seasonal, but they eat out a hell of a lot more than locals and spend their money on attractions and in the tat shops. Spend per capita is SO much higher for a tourist Vs a local that it is easier for shops and restaurants to weather a few barren months in the winter than it would be for then to rely on local money only. As I said, there isn't much employment locally and much of it is linked to tourism. Even the trades people spend a lot of time renovating and maintaining holiday homes. There really isn't much of an economy outside of this.

YANBU

I grew up in Cobham. A perfect London suburb with a still functional high street. London on your door step, the Surrey hills next door. Great state schools.

I couldn't afford to stay obviously. The area has gone from Gin and Jag country to the Beverly Hills of the UK. Every other car is a lambo or new plate Range Rover.

Hence the name I now live in Rugby. A very much less desirable part of the world.

One day I may work my way back but it does make me laugh when people say they have a birth right to live where they are born. 😂

You really don't!

I don’t disagree with your logic op; it is the ultimate entitlement to say beautiful places should be reserved for those who were born there and tourists shouldn’t be welcome. But some people never see their privalge or entitlement.

its also incredibly odd when the local economy relies on the tourist pound. Talk about biting off the hand that feeds you.

no one is entitled to any area, and no one is entitled to drive anyone else out.

As far as I'm concerned, locals trump outsiders. I know of villages in nice areas where half the houses are empty throughout the year yet people have to move away from their families because they can't afford to live there. Even if they build new houses, they couldn't afford them.

Local communities die because they're driven away from the area due to escalating house prices. When loads of houses are turned into Airbnbs to accommodate tourists, locals have nowhere to rent.

I'm from a rural area and there's a lot of house building going on. Obviously there's no investment in infrastructure and the area is barely recognisable.

During COVID the area was discovered and people were defecating on the land where children play and people walk their dogs. They littered the area endangering wildlife and polluting the rivers and there was nowhere to park.

Where are you that people were shitting publicly on the ground??

I'm obviously not going to tell you but it was disgusting.

Sorry but I don't see why I should be stuck in a sink town because you know every beautiful rock and stream in your area. You are welcome to move your friends and family to the town I was born. I suspect you would have no problem affording the housing. Why isn't this an attractive prospect to you?

Btw I had to leave my family and friends to forge a better life for myself. Of course I would have loved to stay close to them but I knew that my local area couldn't give me what I needed if I wanted to reach my potential. Now the part of town that I used to live in has gentrified slightly and many of my friends can't afford to live there anymore. People moving due to economic factors isn't unique to beautiful places. It's just a fact of life for many people.

Do londoners own london?

the rules don’t apply to Londoners.

Isn't this a version of the tragedy of the commons?
A very difficult problem to solve!

I don't agree with lots of second home owners who don't use them for most of the year. This creates a winter ghost town and prices locals out. I also hate AirBnBs who rent to noisy disrespectful groups.

Many places need tourists and are happy to have them, provided they are respectful to the locals who are NOT on holiday. Too many tourists forget this.

And I guess as a 2nd gen immigrant I have even less right!

The mad thing is that ultimately they want to restrict outsiders ability to live and even visit their area even if this means the local economy suffers. They then of course will be wanting huge state subsidies from the restricted people to fund the local people's way of life as it's just not an economically viable place to live without tourism and rich outsiders moving in.

It really is extreme entitlement!

Lots of those tourist jobs would have been in hotels though. If you are taking the hotels away, buying up property to let out as holiday lets then you are reducing jobs, giving the place less of a community feel, increasing house prices/rental prices and making it difficult for everyday things like small shops and school to be viable because they can’t survive with customers only 6 months of the year or without families with children.

It’s fine for there to be tourists, but the balance between tourists and locals needs to be right. And that does mean limiting the numbers of tourists in houses that could be used by locals. Also some tourists need to remember that the place they are visiting is people’s home.

I'm from Cornwall. Don't begrudge anyone moving here (have family members from all over!), but I DO resent people buying second homes that are used max four weeks out of the year so that local families cannot afford to stay in the area. The rents here are insane now. I complain about my fixer upper house but in reality I'm glad we have something affordable as even our place would cost much more to buy now.

Fortunate? There are very few jobs in rural areas, no public transport and often high levels of deprivation. They might be pretty but they are hard places to live if you aren't rich.

My whole generation of cousins (maternal and paternal), that's twenty people, are missing from the area which our families had farmed for generations in the Lake District. My childhood home recently sold for more than £1million. That's a generation not there to support their parents. There's police officers, teachers, a headmaster, mechanic, engineer, chef and social worker amongst them. None of whom can afford to go back. I do wonder how those providing those skills now afford to live there.

Presumably those who were born and raised in places which are beautiful but with few job prospects won't ever move somewhere which has good job prospects but isnt exactly lovely looking? They'll stay where they are and put up with poor job prospects?

Thought not. So if people are entitled to move away for better opportunities, why can't people move in for better surroundings if that is what's important to them?

Unless we are going to start saying people have to stay without a 3 mile radius of where they are born, then movement has to work both ways

People commute and now work from home. Where I live people drive or get the train, even the bus.

It's just how the world works. Looking at it from a global perspective, some people are unfortunate enough to have been born in South Sudan and would kill to be able to freely just come and live in the shittiest of towns in England, but they can't because England is reserved for those who can afford it, who is already established there and have the right paper work. If we truly want a free for all world then that should surely include everyone? You are still pretty damn privileged if you are living in Jaywick compared to if you are living in Juba.

If your generation had stayed then you could say the same about your children and your children's children. There would literally never be a time where you and your descendants didn't have this claim over the area and outsiders like me could get a chance to experience living there.

In my local area, there are certain properties that can only be rented or sold to agricultural workers. Which is fair enough... they are needed to keep the farms going.

I would support a scheme where certain properties were restricted to key industries... as everywhere needs teachers, medical, service industry, police and other key industry workers.

It's not an attractive prospect to me because as I say my whole family, entire life experience, culture, heritage and language is here. If I had grown up wherever you live with all those things that is where I'd stay. It's got absolutely nothing to do with the 'niceness' of the area.

FWIW I've got absolutely no problem with the building of lots more houses so that lots more people can move into the area. But that's not what happens for multiple reasons (legislative mostly, but also huge protests from people who have already moved in to 'keep it special and not spoil the pretty area' now that they themselves have what they want). People who move in directly compete for housing with the indigenous population, so every incomer pushes a local person out. While I support your desire to live here, if pushed to choose between you (who likes looking at the pretty mountains) and John from down the road (whose entire family is here and who grew up here and lives and contributes to his native culture) I'm choosing John.

I think people would feel very differently about paying their taxes and subsidising these beautiful, yet poor areas if they thought that the areas were essentially like countries that we don't have the right paperwork to visit or live in. People on Juba don't pay money towards subsidising Cornwall whereas those in Jaywick do