I wonder ... Is there any way that Spurtle can tactfully do anything about the erosion of residencies?
I've lived and worked in Broughton since the early 1980s. I joke with friends that for me it's the 'centre of the world'! It's a friendly neighbourhood. People say hello to each other, many of the shops are private owners who serve the customers themselves and get to know you. Once, when I was housebound (looking after a frozen kitten one winter), they sent food round to my door (for the kitten, I add!).
What is increasingly happening is the onward march of short-term lets. Sometimes people, from outside of the area and with wealth to spare, buy up a property to live in for a few months of the year and rent it out to a variety of short-term tenants for the rest of the seasons.
One can see the attraction: but slowly and surely it's destroying our 'community'. It is hard to form relationships – with people, the businesses, and with the streets and the beauty of the surroundings – for people who are 'temporary visitors'. Broughton in future could become not a neighbour-hood, but a mere 'financial investment', a throwaway attraction.
Visitors in the main mean no harm: but they simply have no reason to care.
Christopher Docker
(Broughton resident)
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