Agenda item

To present a draft emerging Beach Hut Strategy Review for Cabinet approval for public consultation purposes and to request authority to invite stakeholder comment on the document.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves the content of the revised draft Beach Hut Strategy for consultation purposes and authorises Officers to seek stakeholder comment on the document for a minimum six-week period.

Councillor Chapman BEM declared a Personal Interest in the subject matter of this item insofar as her family held a licence for a beach hut in Brightlingsea.

Cabinet considered a report of the Leisure & Tourism Portfolio Holder (A.4), which presented it with a draft emerging Beach Hut Strategy Review for its approval for public consultation purposes and which sought its authority to invite stakeholder comment on the document.

Members were informed that the Council had adopted its Beach Hut Strategy in 2013, in order to provide a consistent approach to the management of that service in subsequent years.  This revision of the existing strategy was in order to update a number of issues relating to beach huts; to ensure beach hut conditions were adhered to; and appropriate resources were considered to monitor the service.

It was reported that, along the Tendring coastline there were currently 3,057 beach huts directly under the operation and management of Tendring District Council (TDC).  The objectives for the Beach Huts Service at TDC, as set out in the strategy, were to provide a customer focused, efficient, quality service, seeking income opportunities, which had potential (subject to further business case and decisions), to facilitate:

·  Improved seafront assets and infrastructure

·  Increased awareness of local seafront issues

·  Support for tourism and inward investment strategies of the Council

Cabinet was aware that beach huts were a key part of the Tendring seafront landscape and were regularly captured in tourism images, as features of the District, in Brightlingsea, Clacton-on-Sea, Holland-on-Sea, Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze, Harwich and Dovercourt.

Cabinet was informed that TDC had contacted all beach hut licence holders in April 2022, to inform them of an intention to review the existing Beach Hut Strategy.  In the summer of 2022, the Council had consulted on seven key issues, which would form the basis of a review of the existing Strategy. Those issues were as follows:

o  Limiting the onward renting of beach huts by issuing a number of new commercial agreements through a transparent tender process;

o  Limiting the issue of future beach hut agreements to one per household;

o  Revising/updating the existing Beach Hut Specification;

o  Where licence holders have adapted their huts to include extensions, such as patios and verandas which are not covered by the specification, look to work with those parties to ensure their removal;

o  Developing a future funded business plan to consider additional staffing resources to ensure beach hut conditions are adhered to and to take appropriate enforcement action where necessary;

o  Improving customer service through exploring the feasibility of an improved digital platform for those with beach huts;

o  Developing a business plan for developing new beach huts and utilising the additional income for increased resources and seafront investment.

Members were advised that a pre-consultation questionnaire exercise had been carried out on those seven points and that 2,673 people had completed it.  A breakdown of those responses was summarised within the Portfolio Holder’s report and the full consultation response was attached as Appendix B to that report.  Following the consultation, a number of proposals on how to address each of the seven points above had been drafted. They were set out in the draft strategy (attached as Appendix A to the Portfolio Holder’s report.

Each of the points had been further reviewed and amendments had been made where it had been deemed appropriate to form the emerging document.  Those amendments had included changes to how Commercial Agreements were proposed to be issued following final adoption of the Strategy and the types of agreements which were suggested to be issued in future for beach huts.

Cabinet was reminded that once approved by it, the views of current licence holders, Beach Hut Associations and other stakeholders on the draft new Strategy would be requested through a consultation process, which would last a minimum of six weeks.  The Strategy was due to then return to Cabinet in February 2023 for consideration of the consultation comments and its final adoption. 

Members were made aware that some points covered in the Strategy could be delivered upon adoption by the Cabinet and that other points would be longer term, and would require a detailed business plan.

Short term changes to the beach hut agreements resulting from the adopted strategy would be implemented by April 2023 and licence holders would be informed directly, with a minimum of 28 days’ notice.  It was also proposed to move from licences to leases, with an implementation date of 1 April 2024.  The greater security afforded to those with beach huts, would result in an increase in annual charges.  Any Commercial Agreements issued however, would be implemented in advance of the wider roll out, following Cabinet’s adoption of the Strategy.

In order to approve the draft strategy in principle and to authorise the consultation to ensure that the views of local people on the content of the strategy were considered prior to adoption and implementation which would lead to an improved beach hut service going forward, in terms of governance, improvements to seafront aesthetics and ensuring a regulated service for rentals:- 

It was moved by Councillor Porter, seconded by Councillor Stock OBE and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves the content of the revised draft Beach Hut Strategy for consultation purposes and authorises Officers to seek stakeholder comment on the document for a minimum six-week period.