Felpham residents protest at beach huts plan

The members of Arun District Council's development control committee decided to put their decision about the 14 extra huts on hold.

They wanted to find out more details about the proposal by Inspire Leisure on the greensward next to the Culver Road car park.

The land is owned by the district council. Members were keen to hear the views of the council's head of parks and greenspace, Philippa Dart, about the matter.

Their decision came after they had heard the unpopularity of the scheme.

The council had received 28 letters of objection from individuals plus a protest from parish councillors.

Speaking for the objectors, Felpham county councillor George Blampied urged councillors to defer a decision on the scheme. "A further 14 huts will increase the already existing problem of parking by moving it to adjoining roads.

"The adjoining car park is empty because it is a pay-and-display site and people will not pay.

"The beach huts are a good site and seems to have been established since the 1920s.

"It's time now for it to be revamped. This would allow for additional beach huts and a larger car park on the site," he stated.

Nearby resident Julian Hitchcock said the application had upset a lot of people. There were safety concerns about putting more huts among the existing groups of 65 huts.

"If we have a second row of beach huts, one behind the other, it will be a perfect haven for misbehaviour and further problems than we have already had there," he stated.

The proposals were also an overdevelopment of the area and would worsen parking problems in surrounding roads.