One of the special things about the countryside around Bridport is, of course, that it contains some of the most splendid and interesting landscape and coastline anywhere in Europe. That is why it is rightly a world heritage site.
But it is also a living landscape.
And that life does not just consist of farms, agriculture and fishing, important as these are. It is also a life lived in villages — real communities that have a way of life, a history and a spirit of their own.
So far from being out-dated or old-fashioned, our villages are embodiments of much that is best in modern British society. Of course, as in almost any collection of human beings, there are frictions and feuds. But community spirit, good-neighbourliness, and the justified pride that makes people feel it is worth contributing, are all present in plenty.
There are many threats to the vibrant life of these village communities, including the too frequent disappearance of things that promote village life — schools, village halls, churches, post offices, shops and pubs. But our villages are fighting back, with the community pub at Shipton Gorge and the community shop at Thorncombe amongst countless other local initiatives from First Responders to village guides for incomers.
To sustain a vibrant village life, though, there has to be a balanced community. Not just the young or just the elderly; not just the long-time residents or just the incomers; not just the permanent residents or just the weekenders. In a balanced village, everyone has something to contribute: some have more time, others more money; some have new ideas, others an understanding of old ways.
When that balance breaks down, as it can for example if the proportion of weekenders grows too high, the sustainability of village life is put at risk. You can’t keep the school full, or the village hall booked, or the post office, shop or pub open, just on the basis of weekend inhabitants or holiday lets.
So we all have an interest in making sure that the balance is, so far as possible, preserved.
In a modern, liberal democracy, this can’t mean establishing machine-gun nests to mow down weekenders when they attempt to buy second homes. But it can mean imaginative ways of enabling local people to get new, affordable housing for themselves and their families rather than having to move out. And that requires something like a new generation of local housing trusts, given the ability to establish new homes for local people on a rented or shared equity basis — with the houses returning to the trust whenever the occupiers want to move out, so that they are ready and available for the next local family or individual.
This way, we can have a gradual expansion of our villages at a pace determined by locals, with affordable homes for local people, and the preservation of a balanced community that isn’t hollowed out by an excessive proportion of weekend and holiday homes.