FRESH plans for beach huts beneath a Swanage hotel have been submitted after a previous scheme was refused by district councillors.

The owners of the Pines Hotel in Burlington Road originally wanted to build 45 beach huts on four levels on the cliff side overlooking Swanage Bay.

Members of Purbeck District Council’s planning committee turned down the scheme in November 2017 due to the “amount and scale” of the huts and the impact they would have on the land, which is part of the Dorset AONB.

Revised plans prepared by Vail Williams and HGP Architects on behalf of hotel owners Brian and John Puddepha are proposing 40 beach huts on three tiers, with seven huts and a sun terrace on the top level, 15 huts and two toilet/shower blocks on the middle level and 18 huts on the ground level.

The proposed huts include folding doors, translucent colour panels, stone walling and concrete.

They would be accessible via the beachfront and a staircase leading from the hotel.

Planning officer Peter Walters said he would likely be recommending the revised plans to the planning committee.

“Subject to some further detailing regarding the design, the primary reasons for objection from the statutory consultees have been overcome with the proposed design,” he said.

“The proposal seeks to address the reasons that led to the refusal of the previous scheme. Comments have been sought from the AONB team, the Jurassic Coast Trust and Natural England regarding the proposals.

“The AONB team have considered the proposals and consider that they respond to the key issue resulting in their objection to the previous application - the vertical scale. The removal of a tier reduces the impact that the proposal has in terms of scale.

“While the second and third tiers now feature more beach huts, the AONB team accept that this is reasonably balanced.”

He added: “The team have highlighted two matters that they wish further deliberation to be given to. The first is whether the walkway between the two blocks of beach huts could be moved back towards the cliff face to reduce their visual impact. The second recommendation is to move the railings that would be located on the sun terrace situated on top of the northern block of beach huts back towards away from the edge of the terrace.

“The AONB team consider that both these measures would serve to mitigate the visual impact of the development within close views, i.e. from the promenade and beach.”

The site is part of an engineered cliff stabilisation scheme that was built in 2015/16 following the collapse of a significant part of the cliff during a large storm. The scheme was designed to allow for beach huts at a later stage.

A spokesperson for HGP Architects said the proposals would “reintroduce amenities to enhance tourism and local enterprise.”