CHALET owners have hit out at proposals by a town council to replace the buildings they have been stopped from using for more than three years.

Chalets at Ware Cliff in Lyme Regis were deemed unsafe following landslips. Now the town council will submit a new planning application to replace and move the chalets, subject to full council approval.

Lyme Regis Town Council will submit proposals for six chalets and three caravans. The replacements will be moved forward from the original sites - away form the cliff. The new structures will also be smaller than the original design.

But chalet owners, who have not been able to access the buildings for more than three years, feel "aggrieved" that they will not be allowed back.

Speaking on behalf of former chalet owners, Henry Besley addressed the council's town management committee last week.

He said: "Our four chalets haven't moved at all. We do question as to why we have to remove our chalets for what seems to be no reason.

"We wonder why we couldn't have chalets of a similar size to the existing chalets if they are only going to be moved forward - although of a different design.

"I would like to know whether the council is saying our chalets are unsafe. We have not been allowed to use them for the last three years. We feel rather aggrieved."

The committee agreed to move forward with proposals to submit a formal planning application to West Dorset District Council.

Cllr John Broom said: "I personally think it’s a good idea.

"Instead of spending money, we will get some more money back and as a town council I think we should start doing more of that."

Deputy mayor Cllr Michaela Ellis, questioned whether the new sites for the chalets were safe.

Cllr Broom said: "Our engineers tell us that they will be safe.

"We can only go on professional advice which is that if we move them and we leave enough room behind them, that they will be safe.

"We need a bigger area behind them in case the cliff does move. At the moment, it is touching the back of some of the chalets or it is very close."

The committee agreed to first obtain planning permission before allocating the chalets to the public. But Cllr Ellis said the authority had "set a president" after offering new chalets at Monmouth Beach to owners who had lost units.

She said: "As far as I’m concerned, we have set a president with the ones down on the beach.

"Theirs were moved right forward and I would have said they were new sites. But we were told, no, they had to go to the original people. I would like to see that these would then go to the people that lost them."