THE row over beach hut colour schemes will be discussed at a Christchurch council meeting on Wednesday.

The council’s community services committee has been recommended not to change its policy – despite criticism of the scheme by residents.

In December, the Daily Echo reported that former soldier John Sandford-Hart had slammed demands from council staff to repaint his stripy beach hut at Friars Cliff.

He described the rules as “bonkers”.

Another hut owner, Gordon Espley, who has painted boats on his beach hut, said he felt like owners were “coming up against a brick wall” if they wanted to express any kind of individuality.

The criticism led to a meeting of councillors and staff, where a recommendation was made that beach huts should be painted one colour only.

The report to the committee on Wednesday says “the high profile of the subject matter has led to concerns about the value of the policy, the need for restrictions of any kind and potential reputational concerns”.

A meeting on January 22 to review the policy noted that, although some owners may want to have more individuality over decoration, if a small minority were not allowed to comply with conditions it would be difficult to stop others.

It added: “Matters of decorative taste are very subjective.

“If the condition on decoration was relaxed completely the council would have no remedy if hut owners decorated their hut in a way which was of poor taste or decorated with images that could possibly cause offence to some members of the community or the council.”

All decorative colours are allowed, except luminescent. Members of the committee are being recommended not to make any changes to the current licence conditions.