Detailed proposals for new beach chalets for the promenade at Saltdean have been submitted.
Seven new prefabricated double beach chalets are planned for the site underneath the Whitecliffs Café, creating 14 units with access to electricity and a drinking water standpipe.
They would be let out to residents for a fixed term period and would be similar in design to existing beach huts in Hove but larger and made of composite materials.
The weatherproof and fireproof materials used to build the chalets will also be wipe clean and graffiti-resistant.
Rottingdean ward councillor Bridget Fishleigh said: “The weather on the undercliff can be ferocious so it’s good to see that the council has investigated materials that can survive the elements.”
The installation of new beach chalets were approved by the Tourism, Equalities, Communities and Culture (TECC) Committee in November 2021, following a report which looked at the feasibility of putting chalets on three sites at Madeira Drive, Undercliff Rottingdean and Undercliff Saltdean Beach.
The designs of the beach chalets include wipe-clean interior surfaces, marine-grade stainless steel door surround and door frame and locking plates on the door and door frame align to secure the door with a padlock.
The planning application states that there would be no shrinking, warping, rotting or rusting of the composite materials used to build the chalets, and that the chalets are designed to last 20 or more years maintenance-free.
The installation of these chalets would be followed by two more phases of building, with a second set of 15 beach chalets on Saltdean Promenade and Beach Huts on Madeira drive near Banjo Groyne.
Unlike beach huts, the chalets are owned by the council and let only to local Brighton and Hove residents.
With the current licence fees (including VAT) for the chalets at Saltdean at £889.60 a year, the council could gain an income of £12,454 a year in rent from the proposals.
Overwhelming demand for chalets from Brighton and Hove residents caused waiting lists to close for the existing 105 chalets across Hove, Rottingdean, Madeira Drive, Ovingdean and Saltdean.
The council introduced a maximum five year fixed term lease for new chalet tenants in 2011, but in 2022 moved existing tenants who remained on an indefinite lease over to a new maximum eight-year fixed term lease.
You can find out more about the proposals by searching for the reference BH2022/03653 on the council’s planning portal.
Beach huts should be place from Brighton pier right to the marina. Plus also the full length of Hove lawns. But i suppose the green council would just add another cycle lane instead of using the money to repair all our decaying history.