Felixstowe: Evicted beach huts could get new seafront sites

Some 44 huts were left partially blocking the prom at Felixstowe after severe beach erosion meant they could no longer stand on the shore.

Huts had stood near the Spa Pavilion since the beach hut craze started in Victorian times.

East Suffolk Council managed to find sites for 30 of the wooden chalets, but that left 14 to be evicted with nowhere to go - and these have now been removed and put into storage.

Beach huts have been in the Spa Gardens area since Victorian times. Picture: Danielle Booden (Image: Newsquest)

But there is hope on the horizon for the 14 - with council planners backing proposals from the Felixstowe Beach Hut and Chalet Association to create a new hut site on land on the seaward side of the sea wall at Martello Park on the south seafront.

The plan - which has yet to be decided - was submitted to the council by the association on behalf of and with the support of the 14 Spa hut owners.

A statement submitted with the application said: "We would firstly like to say that we have campaigned throughout the past year to remain at the Spa area, and still believe this is the best place for our huts, given the heritage of beach huts in that area.

"However, if remaining at the Spa is not possible we would seek an alternative placement that is comparable to this premier site."

While there have been concerns about the proposed site because of the impact on rare plants there, the hut owners say they would be willing to take care of the shingle habitat and to maintain and improve it to allow nationally scarce plants to prosper.

The huts when they were stranded on the prom. Picture: Jason Noble (Image: Jason Noble)

An East Suffolk Council spokesperson said: “As landowner, East Suffolk Council supports the planning application submitted by the Felixstowe Beach Hut and Chalet Association for Manor End. However, without certainty of a decision date, or of the decision being successful, it was felt prudent to continue to move the huts to storage. 

“As discussed with the association before the Christmas period, offering a compound area until the end of September would allow this application to go through the planning process.

“Should the application be successful, any subsequent planning conditions and preparations required for Manor End may prevent the huts being moved for a number of months. Matching the timescales for the general move of huts in the spring would therefore be difficult to achieve.”