And still we build Cranbrook and luxury housing.
“Torbay MP, Adrian Sanders, a member of the all-party group for coastal communities, said the findings highlighted the need to redress the age imbalance.
He warned that if action was not taken, some towns could struggle to cope with the pressures of an ageing population.
“These coastal locations strongly appeal to older residents looking to retire, but this comes with increased social costs,” he said. Over 65s are coming to these communities at a time when they are less economically active but have growing needs which must be met by local services. While they can be a fantastic asset to their local community, in the long term we have to look at creating a more mixed demographic in these communities. We need to attract and retain more of the skilled, working age population.”
The ONS report, which looked at 274 coastal towns in England and Wales with populations of more than 1,000, identified several South West communities as having particularly high concentrations of retirement age inhabitants.
These included Charmouth in Dorset and Newton Ferrers in Devon, where 42% of residents are 65 and over, and Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton in south east Devon, where numbers were around 41%. This is compared to the national average of around 16%.
The study also found many seaside communities suffered from lower than average employment rates and higher economic inactivity rates, as well as higher numbers of workers in part-time employment.
Mr Sanders said that these towns were in desperate need of better housing, infrastructure and educational provisions.”
“You need good schools and colleges to ensure the local labour market can offer employers the right skills. Many businesses find they have to move out of smaller communities when they want to expand because they can’t find the right employees,” he said.
“You also need the best possible connectivity, both in terms of rail and road as well as digital and communication. But most important is the housing policy – you need to ensure that young people who can work locally can also live locally.
“We need more regulated rent, secure tenancy housing in order to create stronger, enduring communities. In my opinion, this kind of accommodation needs to account for half of all new developments.”
Westcountry coastal towns have some of the highest proportions of private sector rentals of any location in the UK, according to the ONS study, even outstripping areas of London and Manchester.
East Devon Watch 
So why are our political masters pushing ahead with development rather than creating quality job opportunities?
The market for these developments has to be aimed at second home owners and retiree as we don’t have enough of the jobs that would enable locals to finance their high purchase price.
At the same time why do they keep absolving developers from building previously agreed quotas of affordable housing as soon as they cry poverty, despite posting increased profits?
Meanwhile we are in the slow lane of fast broadband and our biggest employer (EDDC) is set to export jobs from the coast to Exeter.
All this is happening in a post Scottish referendum climate. In the next parliament, national economic attention will focus on Scotland and ensuring that Northern England is fit to compete against any devolved powers.
Unless we have someone to champion the South West we are bound to lose out. Things are not going to get better and I fear for the younger generation, as with previous generations of Devonians they will have to get on their Tebbit Bikes.
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