Streetlife

Well.  I don't think that £1200 a year for those chalets is extortionate at all.  For the cost of a half decent fortnight in Spain, these people get 356 days by the sea.  Bargain.

And the beach hut prices seem very reasonable too.  Let's be honest here, these are luxury items - and as such, should attract a premium price.

I was disappointed to hear that the South Seafront huts are likely to be removed.  Seems a bit spiteful, if you ask me.  I imagine Bloor have a hand in that little decision - they seem to be taking a malicious delight in screwing over as many residents as possible.

I am not a beach hut owner (unless you call my house 200 yds from the sea a luxury beach hut).  I also have no particular axe to grind over rents/licenses being £336 per annum now.

I do have issue with SCDC's attitude towards the electorate though.  Was it not they, who in 1983 removed 1,000 beach huts from the south seafront, because they naively believed develpopers were waiting in the wings?  They have lost effectively 29 years of income, which At today's costs would be 8.7 million.  Okay rents have gone up over 29 years so let's be conservative (with a small c) and guess at around 5 million.  That in anyone's book is a huge loss of income, and was totally unnecessary.

So, in my very humble opinion, SCDC have masterminded their own financial downfall, and WE are paying the price in reduced services, closure of the Spa, lack of gardens maintenance etc.

Maybe they should start using some of the (kept very quiet) huge reserves they have sitting in the bank.

If they started using the reserves then there'd be no contingency for ... errm ... times when there wasn't enough money.

Ooops.

I'm not the slightest bit bothered if luxury items for the privileged few increase in price, there well always be the well off lot who can afford them, its not like they are a necessity for everyone including the poor and people are going to struggle to find the money.

Well said SoR.  I saw some moaning old gits in the Star complaining that "they wouldn't be able to enjoy their holiday".  Well, tough titty.  I haven't had a holiday in 7 years - I'm not going to shed any tears about people not having every weekend in a seaside town.   A holiday is a luxury, not a necessity.

My 7 yr old has never been on holiday, she doesn't even know what one is really.

Life in Felixstowe is a non-stop holiday.

Spot on, Marc!

What I am interested to know is what happened to the grandiose p[ans by SCDC a few years ago to build new b each huts on the boat storage area at The Dip -.  presumably to rent and  help meet the demand for more huts in Felixstowe

If what happens in Felixstowe is an example of what can happen under a local authority run by so called business men then Heave help us in the coming months

A holiday is necessary as we all need to recharge our batteries with the stress in life. It dosn't need to cost the earth

With respect Elizabeth, there are some people (myself included) who don't have £10 spare.  So any sort of holiday that doesn't involve staying at home is absolutely out of the question.  I find it hard to sympathise with people who complain about cutting back on something I see as an unattainable luxury.

I'll tell the gov to pay for me and 3 kids to go on holiday this year now it's a necessity, Woohoo!

You may think you cannot afford holidays but life is about choices - computers, iphones, smoking, drinking, tattooos, cars, fashionable clothes, holidays etc  - we all choose what to waste our spare cash on!

I don't agree, some of those things are actually necessities especially when you have children, I don't smoke, barely drink, certainly don't have fashionable clothes, don't have an iPhone, don't have tattoos, but if you think you can afford a holiday for 2 adults (my eldest is now classed as an adult) and 2 children, including travel costs, food and spending money on £70 a week widowed parents allowance AFTER bills and food has been paid for, I'd love to know where!

When I was young and poor we used to go and stay with relatives for a holiday for the cost of our keep!

That only works if you have relatives.

OK Trevor.  I have a second hand computer, no iPhone, I don't smoke, I drink less then 2 pints a month, I don't have tattoos, drive a 15 year-old car (needed for work), buy clothes at Primark and haven't had a holiday in 7 years.  I don't waste a penny.  Sometimes we see out the last week of the month with beans on toast every day.  My one indulgence in life is Sky tv - that's our whole monthly entertainment budget.

I don't just THINK I can't afford a holiday.  It's a fact of life.  I can't afford to go to a dentist, I can't afford a new pair of glasses and I can't afford to take my wife out for a meal on her birthday. 

Don't patronise me, thinking I'm some sort of fool who can't balance his budget.  

Not everyone has been lucky enough to end up "comfortably off".  A lot of people, due to nothing but bad luck and unfortunate circumstances have not got enough to enjoy their lives too much.  

It makes me weep when I read about families "struggling to get by on only £45,0000".  I bleeding WISH.

Here here Stick of Rock.  Some people are too quick to judge others, aren't they?

I sometimes wonder if everyone should be forced to live for 3 years on the breadline, just so they have some appreciation of how damned hurtful they can be, when they make smug, self-satisfied comments about holidays being "essential" and "anyone can afford one".

I am still amazed that there are people who really don't seem to have any idea of what modern day poverty is and to say a holiday is a necessity actually upsets me because I cannot give my children a holiday and then to say its all about choices, well, I'm speechless I did not choose for my husband to die leaving me totally penniless with 3 children to care for.

My 7 yr old was asking me what its like to go on holiday and trying to imagine what its like because she saw something about holidays on TV, that made me feel sad, for me it would be a matter of paying bills and feeding my family or a holiday, they are the sort of choices I have.

So, SoR, what is modern day poverty and why is it worse than the sort I grew up with? Also, Marc T, is being on the breadline having your own house, job and car?

To be honest, it's a symptom of the toxic consumerism that our society has fallen prey to.  When people are judged by how much their houses are worth, what brand of trainers they wear or what reg letter is on their car.  It's all about money, and not about friendship, or honesty or even being a good parent.  We just get judged on our "success", and that is measured purely by how much we have in the bank.

Although, in my time, I have made (and spent) serious amounts of money, I've never been under any illusions that it was anything other than good fortune.  It just makes me angry to see people judging others based on the results of the fickle hand of fate.

Trevor - I don't own a house.  I have a modest clerical job that doesn't pay enough for us to eat well during the month and my car, as I mentioned, is 15 years old and doubles in value when I put £40 of petrol in the tank.  According to official figures I am living in "fuel poverty".  

The reason modern poverty is worse is, as mentioned above, the fact that society has changed and the poor are now judged to be failures, or scroungers.  There is also less opportunity to dig oneself out of the poverty trap - jobs are few and far between and the essentials in life cost considerably higher percentage of income than they did in the 50s and 60s.  

To get political about it, the Establishment have done a great job, since the 80s, of creating a HUGE gap between the poor and the rich - and that gap widens every day.  The fact that 10% of the population own 85% of the wealth says it all, really.  It's in their interests to maintain an underclass of poorly paid workers to provide the fodder for their commercial enterprises, and people like me and SoR suffer accordingly.

I never said poverty is worse now than when you were young Trevor, but the government has a specific guideline which determines poverty in Britain in the present day, according to their guidelines I am living in poverty, you can easily google it to see what it is.

I'm trying to get a job now, my first in 17 years since I have always been a stay at home Mum whilst my husband worked,I cannot get one at all, I've only managed to get one interview as soon as they see i haven't worked for 17 years they chuck my application in the bin, but to any outsider I'm a single Mum with multiple kids who doesn't work and I'm judged on that too. But I suppose that's down to my life choices too eh?

I thought people on benefits were supposed to be better off than in work. I have never judged anyone because they are poor, I have friends who have more than me but it does not make any difference, they are true friends.

Elizabeth - that nonsense about benefit scroungers is pure politics.  I've been there myself, and I can tell you - NO-ONE stays on benefits by choice, whatever you may read in the Daily Mail.  
The Government are waging a campaign to demonise the poor, by categorising them as "scroungers" or "benefit frauds" - it's a total fabrication to draw attention away from the real issue - the rich getting richer.

Let's put it into perspective.  The total amount of benefit fraud for the last TEN YEARS is less than 25% of the total tax avoidance by the super-rich in the last TEN MONTHS.  

Which of those issues offends you most?