Opposition to Felpham beach huts

Some 30 individuals attended the first meeting of the Sea Drive and The Loop Action Group and agreed to fight the proposals by LE Walwin and Partners for the 30 huts and an amenity hut along part of the Summerley Estate frontage.

"We feel the intensity of the development is far too high," a campaign spokesman said.

"Although there were beach huts there in the past, there were only one or two a plot compared to the six or seven now being planned.

"If they go ahead, they will change the character of the area because they are out of keeping with it."

The 30 seaside structures would be governed by a legal agreement which restricts the leases to people who live within 1.2km of them.

The agreement would be enforceable in court if it was broken. It has been suggested by the applicants for the beach huts, to ensure only those who live within easy walking distances of them can use them.

This is to overcome the absence of parking at the site. Those who live in the 338 properties on the private Summerley Estate will be given first refusal to rent the huts to try to keep their usage as local as possible.

LE Walwin and Partners has put forward the ownership ban as part of its planning application to Arun District Council for the huts.

It intends to build them along 108m of foreshore behind 40 and 41 Sea Drive.

The beach huts will reduce the width of the greensward between the houses and the beach 36 feet to five feet. It is a popular area with some 200 people walking past it in just two hours on Saturday.

"The historic photograph with the planning application for the beach huts shows the greensward to probably be about 70 feet wide.

"So, it is going to be reduced drastically compared to those days. It will not be wide enough for two mobility scooters to be ridden along it side by side or for two cyclists," said the spokesman.

Another major worry was the potential for extra parking which would be generated by the beach huts, he said.

He said: "In the real world, people are still going to drive to the huts."

A statement by the firm's planning agent, Tezel Bahcheli, of Lewes firm Parker Dann, said: "The huts will be available to those in the locality who can walk to the huts... it is recognised there is no parking available at the site, so controls are introduced that will limit ownership and occupancy of the beach huts to those living nearby."

The huts are intended to help to meet the demand for the intrinsic part of the English seaside experience.

Research by LE Walwin and Partners has revealed the waiting list for existing huts in Felpham can be up to nine years.