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Poole's proposed beach hut rent rises 'criminal'

7:30am Friday 3rd September 2010 in


BEACH hut rents in Poole could go up a whopping £441 on average over the next three years under plans being considered by the council.

The proposal, which comes before the cabinet for consideration next Tuesday, is for rents to go up 15 per cent every year for the next three years.

There is also the suggestion of opening them up to non- residents – even though the stock of 1,157 beach huts and beach hut sites is already well oversubscribed.

The current waiting list has 500 people on it – equivalent to an average waiting time of eight years – and was closed to new entrants three years ago.

If the new charging plan is approved the average annual rents will go from £846 this year to £1,287 in three years time.

For the most expensive huts with an annual rent of £1,059 that will be even more.

Financially strapped Borough of Poole already makes a surplus of £456,000 from its beach huts. Under the latest plans it will stand to make an additional £439,779 from them by 2013.

The council has said the money raised would help protect frontline services in the face of fierce budget cuts, but plans are likely to cause outrage among beach hut tenants.

Bob Lister, who has had his beach hut at Branksome Chine for eight years, called the planned rises “criminal”, especially given the condition of some huts and facilities, which he described as “very poor” and “badly maintained”.

He said elderly tenants could “struggle to pay”.

Cllr Philip Eades, deputy Liberal Democrat group leader at Borough of Poole, accused the council of squeezing “every last penny from beach hut tenants”.

He said: “Our beach huts should not be just for the richest members of Poole’s population and they should never ever be leased to outsiders.”

Clive Smith, Poole council’s head of leisure services, said they were doing “everything they could to protect frontline services” and increasing charges on services such as beach huts was “unavoidable”.

He said despite the proposed increases Poole beach huts would “continue to represent better value for money than in many other areas” and advised people who felt beach huts were “becoming unaffordable” to “consider short-term letting as an alternative”.

Comments(15)

Fred Luton says...
8:24am Fri 3 Sep 10

It is not compulsary to have a beach hut - if you cant afford one give it up. The rules of ecconomics will prevail - supply and demand. Poole Council will not want beach huts laying empty so if too many beach hut tennants give them up and there is no one on the waiting list then they will then have to reduce the rental.
I suggest put up or give up.

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Syd Poumen says...
9:44am Fri 3 Sep 10

We have too many immigrants from the City and elsewhere in Sandbanks and Canford Cliffs already, without extending temporary residential opportunities to encourage a greater influx!

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QPUtd says...
9:53am Fri 3 Sep 10

If beach hut prices are so high, how come there 500 people are on the waiting list? If people are prepared to pay that price, the council should charge it - in fact, the rents should go even higher then the council tax for those people who don't want the luxury of a beachut would be lower. Why should all council tax payers subsidise rents for the few who have beach huts?

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Kevicious says...
9:54am Fri 3 Sep 10

Ah, the 'law of economics' - where rich people have more right to life's pleasures than poor people, no matter how and where people's money has been earned, or how hard they have worked for it.

We will be seeing a lot of this Thatcherite bile over the next few years as vital public services are cut back, privatised, and only available to those with money.

Beach huts are just a gentle start...

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QPUtd says...
9:59am Fri 3 Sep 10

No, it's saying would you rather the council close say a day centre for learning disabilities, or put up beach hut rents. As for denying access to beachuts for poor people, the waiting list is currently closed and will take eight years to clear. hence at the moment no-one rich or poor can join the waiting list. The result of underpricing a scare commodity is that you have queues, exactly what happened in communist countries. Also, poor people are also council tax payers and they are subsiding beach huts rent at the moment for the minority

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upontown says...
12:19pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Wow! That is expensive for a box!
Another £600 and it'll be the same as most Council Tax payments. Still, if you can't afford it then you can't have it.

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beachhut says...
12:38pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Well it would take to long to site all of your poor deluded folk. As you can see I am a beachhut owner renting space from the council for what is deemed a privileged group fare from it. What makes a seaside front?, vibrant, colourfull bussling beachhut life, these are the small sheds by the sea NOT the palacial huts at Mudeford. Yet we actually are being charged business rates as if we could or should want to rent them out ha!!!!. Yes they are expensive but good for the family and an escape from the local council stupidity. If these are given open door marketing to anyone with a big enough wadge to bail out the councils black hole of a budget then beware as you will only create a ghost town of unused unloved tatty beachhuts only used at weekends or for one or two weeks of the year, like many boats in the local marina's .The attitude should be a fare rent for decent beachfront services and not more and more rent hikes, for less and less services, if you notice just how much of a dump many of the surrounding beachhut areas are with the bulk site clearence carried out by the dedicated caring owners who take pride in the huts. This can not be said for out of town owners who rarely use it but when they do leave a mess believing the beach front services will clear it up and they do not. So if you want a mucky unkempt beachfront charge more to out of towners, if want a beachfront to be proud of realease them to locals at reasonable rate and save money on beachfront services because they do not warrant the fees being charged now. The code word of HOLE-SITE is apt.

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Azphreal says...
1:33pm Fri 3 Sep 10

So we have the 'get out of everything' mantra 'To save frontline services' which is a catch all phrase such as 'think of the children' or the way anyone who had problems with immigration was a 'racist'. Once again if you do not agree you are painted as a 'nasty' person as you want to shut day care centres etc.

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Perry_Winkle says...
1:44pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Are beach huts a social service? Don't think so...

Which means they have to be treated as an investment by the Council, and pay their way.

Since the Council is, in effect, representative of and caretaker for, the local area on our behalf, it would be bizarre if it were to let out residents facilities to non-residents.

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QPUtd says...
5:08pm Fri 3 Sep 10

All councils across England have to make savingsof at least 25%. They have to do this by a combination of increasing income and reducing expenditure. It can be proved that people are willing to pay more for huts than the current rent because there is a waiting list of 500 people. If as is suggested the beachhuts are not worth the current rent then why are those 500 people willing to wait 8 years to pay it? As for saying huts should be let at a "fair" rent instead, OK how to you decide what a fair rent is? Why is £1,000 a year fair, and £1,500 a year not?

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ta2 says...
6:49pm Fri 3 Sep 10

Stick up rent until there is no waiting list. Charge a fair amount extra for non-council tax payers, since they'll be using council services while they're here.
---
If you can't afford it, then just be glad that the people who can are subsidising your other council services. Makes me laugh seeing people who think they deserve a free lunch, especially in a country like this when you can already get a free house and dinner.

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peter hurt says...
6:49am Sat 4 Sep 10

Surely the beach hut renters havn't become socialists? Bet they are nearly all economic rationalists (i.e. tories) who believe in market forces. Price it what the market can afford.

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peter hurt says...
6:51am Sat 4 Sep 10

ta2 can you tell me where I can get the free house and dinner???

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herne says...
7:50am Sat 4 Sep 10

Yes please do tell us, that sort of arrangement would be very useful to me.

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upontown says...
1:41pm Sat 4 Sep 10

If you want a free house and car + food etc you need to get in contact with the Immigration office you'll also need to put on a eastern block voice and tell them you have 6 kids and have popped out the back of a lorry.......

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