CAMPAIGNERS battling plans for 'Amazing Spaces' beach retreats at Highcliffe have stepped up their fight to stop the scheme from going ahead.

In the week construction is expected to start on the winning designs, the campaign group Friends of Highcliffe Beaches and Cliffs has launched its Facebook page and website in opposition to the competition, organised by Christchurch council and the producers of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces.

The protest group, who displayed their banner outside Christchurch council’s annual meeting on Tuesday, claim 55 regular beach huts could fit on the footprint of the planned 12 overnight structures.

And they have also hit out at the lack of consultation with residents over the extensive scheme.

The design brief from the TV company reveals the council will retain ownership of the finished huts until at least 2021 - and that planning permission will not be required for any of them.

Twelve winners were due to be chosen last week, with the council allocating a plot for each design. Construction - which will be done off site - is due to start this week. 

But the brief states those participating are not allowed to talk, tweet or Facebook about the show without the express permission of Christchurch Borough Council.

The huts have to be built off-site and then transported to the cliffs in early September, where the designers will have five days to assemble them.

Each must fit within a 4m x 6m plot, and 6m high. and should allow 2, 4 or 6 people to sleep and eat in for up to a week, with a kitchen and room inside the hut for all occupants to sit around a table to eat.

Solar panels are allowed but wind turbines and wood burners are not, while 'solutions' to the lack of showers and running water are encouraged.

The council will provide a concrete foundation for each hut, and security during the build. Designers have £8,000 to spend, and materials 'should be sustainably sourced.'

They are required to be built of material that can 'withstand a harsh marine environment'. 

The retreats will be owned by the council and it is hoped, used for most of the year.

Each designer gets to spend four weeks a year in their hut, free of charge, as part of the prize for as long as the council is renting them out. The design brief says that must be for a minimum of five years, unless the council sells them. 

A petition against the plans has so far gathered more than 1,000 signatures.

Nigel Brooks, who is on the steering group, and is also a chartered surveyor, said: “We want to stop the scheme in its entirety.

“The council have to wake up and realise that this is a ridiculous location.”

Citing concerns over high wind speeds and damage to the cliffs, which have undergone work to stabilise them over the past few years, Mr Brooks added: “It’s very difficult to see how anything could stand here at all.”

Simon Box, proprietor of the Lord Bute hotel in Highcliffe, said: “I know the area very well. This is an unspoilt part of the coastline.

“I think what’s upsetting people is the fact that this has gone ahead with no public consultation, especially given the scale of what’s been proposed.

“There will have to be pathways and decking around them.

“One of the arguments which has been put to us, is that it will help rejuvenate Highcliffe. But the problem is that none of us see how it can do that.

“The money would be far better spent in the centre of Highcliffe, looking at ways to encourage businesses to open and make it more appealing.”