- The wooden cabins were in use just last summer have now been destroyed
Beach huts worth half a million pounds have been left in tatters after a fragile cliff washed away.
The wooden chalets at Hordle Cliff, Milford-on-Sea have collapsed and been smashed to pieces after the cliff they were precariously balancing on was completely washed away.
The rate of erosion has been so rapid that the 21 huts were still being used just last summer but in less than 10 months, six have been destroyed.
And now the owners are worried that the remaining wooden cabins, which are teetering on the edge of a 10ft drop may go the same way.
The business owners have vented their frustrations at the council after the destruction of the cabins has left them £25,000 out of pocket.
Beach huts worth half a million pounds have been left in tatters after a fragile cliff washed away
Cabins are now teetering on the edge of a 10ft cliff drop and business owners are worried that they’ll soon topple over and smash into the sea
The erosion is so extreme that the 21 huts which have been smashed to pieces or are in danger of collapsing were still in use just last summer
They have accused New Forest District Council of adopting a ‘do nothing’ policy at Hordle Cliff, Milford-on-Sea, abandoning locals to coastal erosion.
Instead of paying to improve sea defences, the council has opted to let nature take its course and left the small cliff to crumble away thye have said.
But locals and holiday-makers are furious and claimed that the official strategy was not widely enough publicised.
They have said that few knew of the plan and people have spent thousands of pounds on beach huts without realising the area was being abandoned to erosion.
Instead, hut owners were simply told that they bought their huts at their own risk.
One of those who made the unfortunate investment in a wooden holiday cabin was Paul Major who paid £25,000 for his hut in 2017 only for it to be swallowed by the sea two years later along with 21 others.
Now six more huts have collapsed with 15 more condemned to fall off the cliff and crash into the sea.
The erosion is so dangerous that the area was closed off in the autumn when the set of steps leading down to them collapsed.
Holiday makers who bought the homes for £25,000 have been left with nothing after coastal erosion washed away the cliff the chalets were precariously balancing on
New Forest District Council have been accused of adopting a ‘do nothing’ policy at Hordle Cliff, Milford-on-Sea, abandoning locals to coastal erosion
Paul Major paid £25,000 for his hut in 2017 only for it to be swallowed by the sea less than two years later along with 21 others
Mr Major said some of the huts were bought in the early 1990s when they cost just £100 each and have been handed down the family over the years
Hut owners have called the once beautiful seaside area a ‘war-zone’ as the beach is littered with splintered wood and abandoned huts
Mr Major, 69, a member of the New Forest Beach Hut Owners’ Association, said: ‘It is rather upsetting for everyone.
‘To think we have this dream, typically-English seaside setting that now looks like a war zone. It is awful.
‘The rate of erosion has really sped up in recent years.
‘The huts that have now been lost were still being used up until the end of last summer but the subsoil has washed away and the set of steps down to them have collapsed.
‘The area was closed off by the council. Some people managed to get some of their belongings out but you can still see a lot of items inside the huts now.
‘The sea wall further along the beach needs extending or big boulders need to be positioned along the shore to break the waves as they come in, but the council is not interested and there are no funds to do this.
‘But nobody was aware of the council’s do nothing policy, it wasn’t very well publicised and everybody was blind to it.
‘I uncovered it in a report on an obscure website called twobays.net. Who on earth is going to look at that? When I found out I posted it on Facebook and put up a notice down at the beach.
‘We have had some hut owners trying to sell their huts without revealing the whole truth about the erosion.
‘I lost mine in 2019, about 18 months after I spent £25,000 on it which I just had to write off. The insurance didn’t cover it and the council wasn’t interested in paying compensation.
‘I am aware that others have bought huts since 2019 without realising just how bad the erosion is. They are devastated.
‘People say ‘you have got a beach hut, you must be well-off’, but a lot of the huts were bought in the early 1990s when they cost about £100 each and have been handed down the family line.’
Mr Major said that insurance won’t cover the cost of his destroyed beach hut and the council will not compensate him
The subsoil underneath the cliff has been washed away leading to six of the 21 beach cabins collapsing, with the remaining 15 in danger
The rows of beach chalets along the shoreline have started to collapse more quickly but the council has been accused of ‘letting nature take its course’
A spokesperson for New Forest District Council said they sympathised with the affected hut owners but there was nothing they could do.
They said: ‘The council has no statutory duty to undertake and deliver flood and coastal erosion risk management measures at any coastal site.
‘However, we do have every sympathy with beach hut owners who have experienced impacts at this very challenging coastal area.
‘We have actively engaged with hut owners through the New Forest Beach Hut Owners Association and attendance at their AGM where the Shoreline Management Plan has been promoted as well as clarifying national funding policy for coastal protection.
‘With the more recent beach hut impacts we have continued to communicate with affected hut owners.
‘Our advice to anyone owning or buying a beach hut on, or close to, the coast is that they should consider the risk and undertake their own due diligence before investing in any purchase.
‘As there are no defences at this location, the council has not undertaken any flood and coastal erosion risk management activities there.
‘Over the last 10 years, storm impacts, high rainfall levels and natural coastal processes have resulted in an increase of beach erosion, the loss of some beach huts, and increased risk to others.
‘More recently storm Eunice in 2022 and storm Ciarán in 2023 have resulted in further significant beach erosion.
‘The Shoreline Management Policy for this frontage is set as ‘managed realignment’, setting an expectation that there will continue to be change within this undefended section.’