COUNCIL bosses have finally submitted a £1.1m plan to replace 120 beach huts – almost 12 months after they were battered by a ferocious storm.

Many of the privately-owned structures were ripped apart by 80mph winds that wreaked havoc along the south coast a year ago.

Bournemouth Echo: Storms of February 2014 - Milford on Sea

Now New Forest District Council has applied for outline planning permission to replace all the terraced huts at Hurst Road, Milford on Sea.

But work on the council-owned site is unlikely to start until next year, which means families face another summer without their seafront plots.

This has angered people who are missing their “home from home”.

Beach hut owner Mike Booker said: “They were relatively patient last year but it’s gone on for a long time.

“Not being able to use our hut last summer was a big disappointment and the prospect of being without it again this year is a major disappointment.”

Bournemouth Echo: Milford beach hut owners make their point outside the council offices.

Plans to replace the concrete structures were drawn up within months of what became known as the Valentine’s Day Storm.

Councillors meeting last August agreed to forge ahead with the scheme, but the outline application has only just been submitted.

Asked why the process was taking so long a council spokesman said: “The council has been working with beach hut owners to develop the best way forward, taking into account the range of views.

“We have also taken time to carry out the appropriate surveys of the damage as well as the latent defects that were already present.”

The need to comply with EU rules governing the procurement process has also delayed the scheme.

The spokesman said: “Following the process will mean the council benefits from greater competition in the tendering process, resulting in more competitive pricing.

“However, it does require us to follow specified timescales for the advertising and tendering of the work.”

Colin Holdsworth of the Beach Hut Owners’ Association said there was no prospect of obtaining detailed designs and full planning permission in time for the work to be carried out before next winter.

He added: “The council has therefore decided to apply at this stage for outline planning permission. The application for full planning permission is scheduled to be determined late in 2015, with building work commencing in the spring of 2016.

“In general members have accepted, with disappointment, that they will not have the use of their huts until well over two years after the storm. They have resigned themselves to a long wait.”