PLANS for new beach huts in Christchurch will be reviewed after severe storms and tidal surges wrecked huts at Avon Beach.

Council staff, the Army and Avon Beach workers spent days clearing debris from around 50 huts wrecked by the Valentine’s Day storms.

Now, in light of the damage and destruction caused to the structures as well as the harbour, quayside and beach fronts, the council say they are going to review “future provision”, including plans for huts at Friars Cliff and potentially Gundimore beach at Mudeford Quay.

Neil Farmer, strategic director at Christchurch council said: “In light of recent events we will review the way services and facilities are operated from the harbour, quayside and beach fronts.

“This will include the future provision of beach huts which remain extremely popular.

“However our immediate priorities for these areas are to complete our clean-up operations and carrying out essential infrastructures repairs to ensure Christchurch remains open for business.”

Plans for the extra beach huts at Friars Cliff were approved by the resources committee at the council in September last year.

The proposals to add an extra 11 beach huts on the end of the current huts towards Highcliffe were expected to make the council £146,000.

It was hoped the huts would be available for Easter 2014 and ready for the summer season.

The council needed to get permission from the Ministry of Defence, who they bought the land from in 1983, due to a covenant concerning new buildings on the land.

And if the consent was not in place in time, councillors approved a contingency plan to put eight new huts on hard standing at Gundimore beach, in front of the prom between Mudeford Quay and Avon Beach.