COUNCIL chiefs planning to replace almost 120 storm-damaged beach huts at Milford on Sea have approved design plans.

The privately-owned huts will be set back into the promenade in an attempt to ensure they survive any future storms of the same severity.

It means the proposed new structures – due to be built on council-owned land by next August – will be directly below the esplanade.

The £1.3 million scheme was given the go ahead at Wednesday morning's meeting of the district council’s ruling cabinet, despite complaints from some of the beach huts owners.

Yvette Frost criticised the design and layout, saying disabled people would find it hard to access their huts safely.

She also complained that the structures would be narrower than their predecessors, which meant they would be longer, damper and more difficult to dry out.

Other owners said the huts would support a public walkway that was likely to prove a magnet for skateboarders.

But Bob Bishop, chairman of Milford Parish Council, said it was a “very imaginative” scheme that represented a “compelling compromise”.

Cabinet members stressed that the huts would be the same size as their predecessors, which were demolished after being battered by 80mph winds on the night of February 14 last year.

The council leader, Cllr Barry Rickman, said: “We need to press on and do the best we can to please as many people as we can.”

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Rickman said councillors have tried to balance "a wide range of views".

"We have worked hard with the design team to come up with a fair and compelling solution," he added.

"I am pleased that we can now move forward with this project."

Non-cabinet members also supported the scheme, which will need planning permission before work can start.

Cllr Allan Glass said: “We’ve come up with the best compromise we can. This council serves the whole of the New Forest, not just the beach hut owners.”

The replacement huts will be clustered in three terraces, allowing all huts to be removed from the eastern, most exposed end of the lower promenade and improving the views from the upper promenade around the Needles Eye café.

They will be built in concrete with coloured wooden doors.

A new curved access ramp will be developed for the western end of the site to improve access to the lower prom, while a shallower ramp will run behind the beach huts at the eastern end of the new layout, before making a right hand turn onto the lower prom.