New £1.79m Poole beach huts plan set for approval

In total, 131 new beach huts are planned at Canford Cliffs

Plans to spend £1.79m demolishing and rebuilding dozens of beach huts in order to stabilise the cliffs at Poole have been recommended for approval.

Borough of Poole council had planned to build 178 new huts, refurbish 131 and rebuild 8 in several areas, including Branksome and Canford Cliffs.

Revised proposals will see 145 new huts, 147 rebuilt and 28 revamped.

Demolishing some of the current huts will allow for cliff repair work, the council said.

The authority's cabinet gave the plans the green light on Tuesday. They will go before full council on 15 November.

It comes after a landslip at Bournemouth's East Cliff in April led to an investigation by the council at nearby Canford Cliffs, which found the retaining wall behind the huts had "bowed and cracked".

The ground underneath had also "suffered serious erosion over the years, creating underground voids which compromise the integrity of the foundations".

A landslip at Bournemouth's East Cliff in April led to investigations at nearby sites

Proposals to add a second floor to the current huts at Canford have been shelved in favour of replacing them with new two-storey structures and piled foundations.

A new cafe and toilets are also planned.

A council spokesman said: "Should the current huts be demolished, it would provide the council with the ideal opportunity to address these issues, which would otherwise be significantly more complicated and expensive to resolve."

The cash recommended for approval before council is in addition to £3.62m already committed in July 2015.

Six new huts have already been constructed in Sandbanks. Four are set to be built at Flaghead, 94 at Canford Cliff West, 37 at Canford Cliff East and four at Branksome Dene.