The Trip Advisor Awards 2017 voted three Dorset beaches in the top 10 with Weymouth at Number 1. However, given the responses of locals these awards are covering up not just cracks but giant chasms in the reality of not only Weymouth but Bournemouth too.
Top 10 Beaches:
1. Weymouth Beach, Weymouth, Dorset
2. Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall
3. St. Brelade’s Bay Beach, St Brelade, Jersey
4. Luskentyre, Isle of Harris, Scotland
5. Woolacombe Beach, Woolacombe, Devon
6. Porthminster Beach, St Ives, Cornwall
7. Bournemouth Beach, Bournemouth, Dorset
8. Rhossili Bay, Rhossili, Wales
9. Perranporth Beach, Perranporth, Cornwall
10. Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth, Dorset
The comments pages and social media comments suggest something is wrong and not only locally but across many towns in the UK. We all know why and it does not need to be repeated again but the most worrying part is that the same comments arise time and again and they are ignored time and time again.
The issue as far as I am concerned is about honesty. Or more pertinently dishonesty. If a government slashes budgets then their representatives at a local level are not going to tell us the real reasons why services are slashed. They will blame everything else but themselves or their party. Thus dishonesty.
Until we have local democratic representatives who are honest and open about the issues and invite the community to come together with solutions then not much will change. Party politics kills local democracy, creates apathy and often leads to outcomes that the majority of the community did not seek.
All of the above towns can be wonderful but they require all of us included or at least sincerely invited. Until that time the chasm will remain and probably keep expanding.
Douglas James
