Featured in a previous blog as a possible film location, The Hamptons is in the news again, this time amidst allegations of social segregation, according to the Daily Mirror.
This is a story of two halves, the first half looks like this:
...and the other half looks like this:
One half is the owner occupier section the other contains the affordable housing element (study the pictures carefully and you may be able to spot the difference). So far, so normal. Most large developments have a mix of private and social elements, and of course the spec and style of the private stock is inevitably going to be better than that of the social element, but apart from that, the only difference between the residents is that some own and some rent. Until now. Thames Valley Housing Association who manage the social element has just introduced a curfew for children under the age of 15. The new rules state that they must be indoors by 9 pm and cannot congregate in groups of more than four. Failure to comply could lead to eviction. The rules of course do not apply to the other half, as thirteen year old Jack Newton says, "The people who've bought their houses - you see them playing football on the hill. I can't even play with my friends on the field behind our house".
Phew, I panicked when I read that headline, thinking that there was a curfew in our salubrious London suburbs of Hampton Wick and Hampton Hill. I always thought it was a bit pretentious to refer to them as The Hamptons (a la rich America), but now I can see it could be a lot worse.