FUNDING has been earmarked for the demolition of a row of derelict beach huts on Gorleston seafront.For years residents have complained about the shabby, paint-peeling state of the 20 beach huts at the yacht pond end of the Promenade.

FUNDING has been earmarked for the demolition of a row of derelict beach huts on Gorleston seafront.

For years residents have complained about the shabby, paint-peeling state of the 20 beach huts at the yacht pond end of the Promenade.

Now councillor Gerry Cook has won a plea from fellow Great Yarmouth borough councillors for cash to be set aside to erase the beach huts from the seaside scene.

Mr Cook, who represents St Andrew's ward in Gorleston, said: “I consider the beach huts to be a haven for graffiti and vandalism.

“When you pass the houses and the boating yard on the Promenade, you reach these beach huts and they are all boarded up and look totally distasteful. They are going to be demolished and the area cleaned up.”

Simon Mutten, the council's environmental services manager, confirmed the authority had obtained prices for the demolition work, but one of the huts was being used to store council equipment for the pumphouse for the yacht pond and a safehaven needed to be found for the tools before demolition could begin.

He said: “The huts are not actually adding anything to the general character of that area on the seafront. They are not privately owned, to the best of my knowledge.

“I think they have been let in the past but I am pretty sure there are not any people using them at the moment.”

Mr Mutten said maintaining the huts was not the best use of council resources and so the decision had been taken to clear the site and reinstate the asphalt promenade surface, especially as the council had received complaints from Gorleston residents about the situation at the site.

However, Margaret Ward, chairman of regeneration group St Andrew's Riverside Triangle (Start), wanted the huts to be saved.

She said: “I think they could have done with being sympathetically renovated. It would have meant money being spent. They have just got very rundown.

“They should not have been built in the way they were because they are very bland looking. They should be replaced with huts that are more architecturally sympathetic to the area.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

There are similar beach huts on Yarmouth's seafront near Wellington Pier. Should they too get the chop? Is the day of the beach hut over? Write to Letters at The Mercury, 25 Regent Street, Great Yarmouth NR30 1RQ, or send an e-mail to anne.edwards@archant.co.uk