LYME REGIS: Plans to relocate 11 day huts and 11 chalets at Monmouth Beach to stop them falling victim to landslips and severe weather have been hindered.

An application was put to West Dorset District Council’s development control committee amid concerns over landslips from the cliffs behind the buildings.

The proposal from Lyme Regis Town Council was to replace the existing chalets with new timber ones and move them forward by between 8m and 11m.

At the committee meeting, district councillors were asked to vote for a five-year temporary permission, with a range of planning conditions.

A total of six members voted against and six members for, with chairman Ian Gardner’s casting vote believed to have granted permission for the application.

However, district council leader Cllr Robert Gould has since told The News that the application has not yet been formally approved – because a second formal vote by councillors did not take place to grant the application itself.

At the meeting, councillors decided that the huts will not be replaced but will be moved forward by up to 3m.

The chalets can be used for accommodation from March 1 to November 7 whilst the huts can be used by the owners all year round but only during the day.

Tony Tuck is secretary of the owners association representing the chalet and beach hut owners and also owns one of the chalets on Monmouth Beach.

He said: “The current application has the 100 per cent support of all the affected chalet owners and also the great majority of the beach hut owners.”

There were concerns raised from one hut owner, who claimed there was no planning need to relocate huts from their position of ‘relative safety’ closer to stormy seas.

Local district and county councillor Daryl Turner also raised concerns about the safety of moving the chalets and huts closer to the shoreline.

Fellow local councillor and committee member George Symonds echoed those fears.

Also, Cllr Stella Jones said the safety concerns surrounding the huts and chalets had been at large for several years and it could be time to accept that it was no longer an appropriate location for the structures.

Committee vice-chairman John Russell added: “These are not a sustainable development, as much as I would love them to be.”

Cllr Robin Potter, above, said members faced a balancing act between the dual threat of landslides from the cliffs behind and the sea at the front. The application will now go back to the development control committee in October for final approval.