Some 40 new beach huts are set to be built along the Great Yarmouth seafront, after councillors agreed to allocate £450,000 to the project.
Great Yarmouth Borough Council (GYBC) wants to build the huts along North Drive, following the success of a similar installation of huts in Gorleston.
The funding’s release was agreed at a Tuesday meeting of GYBC’s policy and resources committee, where Conservative councillor Paul Hammond asked whether the council could use a more imaginative design for the huts.
“I fully support the idea of this, but could we not have something a bit more pleasing to the eye… rather than a little tiny shed that doesn’t really do anything?” he said.
“The ones that Lowestoft have done are a bit more funky and out there and I’m just thinking whether we could do something a bit more ambitious with the design… that reflects the history of Great Yarmouth.
“Maybe even modelled on the old bathing booths that used to get wheeled into the sea years ago - obviously not on wheels, but that sort of curved top, open doors, something a bit more appealing to the eye.”
Conservative council leader Carl Smith thanked him for his contribution. He later pointed out that councillors had helped shape the designs in Gorleston, and it was agreed for the design choices of the new huts to be delegated to a working group of councillors.
Half the huts would be for sale and the other 20 would be available to rent. At the meeting, a council officer said members of the public had already expressed interest in doing both at the proposed site.
Conservative councillor Penny Carpenter asked whether any “snagging issues” at the Gorleston huts had been identified.
“Are we going to learn anything from Gorleston for these beach huts at Great Yarmouth?” she asked
An officer responded: “The quality of the Great Yarmouth beach huts will be the same as Gorleston, that’s what we’re aiming for.
“I can’t say anything more than that, because we’re discussing the [commercially sensitive] issues with various contractors.”
The huts’ construction will depend on planning permission being given at a meeting next week.
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