Since the time of Ancient Greece, political theorists have attempted to devise a form of civil government that might raise man from his natural state into something more civilised.
Now Waveney District Council is grappling with the opposite problem, of how government might help people to return to a state of nature on a civilised stretch of Suffolk coastline.
Councillors are attempting to create a naturist beach.
Allan Kidney, 68, a retired mechanical engineer and spokesman for British Naturism, regards this as a triumph of local democracy: “Normally, naturists start using a beach, then present it to a local authority as a fait accompli.”
The district authority has asked parish councils to “consider the creation of a naturist facility in your location” and respond by the end of this week. The criteria considered essential for a naturist beach were decided in a series of fully dressed meetings between the council and representatives from British Naturism. The beach should not be “unduly overlooked” and there ought to be “at least some sand”. Ideally, footpaths skirting the beach should be diverted to a distance of 200 yards. “It just means so far away that you can’t see any detail,” Mr Kidney said.
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This important moment in the history of naturism follows what many naturists regard as a retrograde step: the decommissioning of a naturist beach south of the village of Corton. Naturists had been gathering there since the 1930s, despite a local bylaw prohibiting nudity. In 1981 councillors amended the bylaw, decreeing that nudity was permitted between certain groynes south of Corton’s main beach. Between those groynes, groins could be uncovered.
So it remained until 2008, when newspapers all over the world reported that the Corton naturist beach had fallen victim to rising sea levels. In fact, it was the main beach in the village that had been engulfed by the sea, meaning residents were then forced to walk through the naturist zone to reach their nearest beach. The district council decided to “de-designate” the nudist beach in November.
Joy McLeod, 65, a retired teacher, who walks her dogs on the beach each day, said that the problem was not the nudity but the manner in which it was displayed. “We are children of the Fifties and Sixties — we used to run about naked at festivals,” she said. “The next generation has far more of a problem with it than us. The problem is these people on the beach are not real naturists. They will deliberately move in front of you, and then walk back towards you. We’ve also seen flashers.”
She said that the area above the beach had become a gay pick-up point, while a car park at the top of the cliffs, beside a golf course, had become a popular spot for “dogging” — couples having sex in a semi-public place. “We are all pensioners here,” she added, “but that’s what this village is now known for.”
Tony Wade, 62, a rig technician, concurred. “You’ve got the nudists on the beach, cruising at the top of the cliffs and doggers on the pitch and putt,” he said.
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Down on the beach itself, Roger Smith, 62, a former maths teacher, felt such criticisms were unfair. “There are certain things that go on,” he said. “The area down that way is a cruising area, but that’s got nothing to do with us.” Besides Mr Smith on the naturist beach that morning, there was Charlie Chilvers, 51, an undertaker, and a retired insurance broker who wished to remain anonymous.
British Naturism counted 39 naturists on the beach on August 6. A broader survey carried out in 2001 indicated that 2 per cent of the British population were naturists and one in four had indulged in skinny dipping.
Arthur Charvonia, assistant chief executive of the district council, said the entire coastline from Corton to Southwold was being considered. Farther south lies Lowestoft, an industrial town, then Pakefield, a popular spot for archaeologists, and Kessingland, the most easterly village in England.
It was hard to find any fixed consensus there, or in Covehithe, a beautiful hamlet above crumbling sand cliffs, as to where the naturist beach should be. The most common response was that it ought to be somewhere else.
In the crowded tearooms of Southwold, locals and tourists pointed back up the coast. Annabel Newland, 58, a retired NHS administrator, suggested Covehithe. “We might have done it ourselves there in the past,” she said, with a wink.
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Only Derek Hindell, 59, a Southwold stockbroker, appeared ready to consider the idea. He wondered whether “we could see them first and then decide” and whether some sort of age restriction could be imposed. How would he feel if Southwold turned naturist? “Overdressed,” he replied.