Conservative Councillors this week made a successful legal challenge to stop the City Council bringing in a massive new tax on owners of Brighton and Hove Beach Huts.
The Council had proposed huge increases in the fees and charges for beach hut owners in the 2023-4 financial year - including an extortionate 3,000% increase in the council’s administrative beach hut transfer fee from the current £82 to as much as £3,650. On top of this, the Council wanted to hike to the annual licence fees that beach hut owners by (currently £457) by 5%.
Following an eleventh hour legal challenge by Conservative Councillor Samer Bagaeen, the proposal for the 3000% transfer fees hike has been withdrawn, while the Council considers its legal position. It is a reprieve for beach hut owners who contribute so much to this city, but are often targeted by Labour and Green Councillors for extra revenue when they overspend City budgets.
Unfortunately Beach Hut owners were still hit this week after Labour Councillors wanted to double the licence fee to 10% from the 5% initially proposed by the Greens, which the Greens voted for.
This is not the first time the Council has targeted beach hut owners – the same thing happened under the then Labour Council 5 years ago, when very similar fees and charges hikes were proposed. Back then, Conservative Councillors and beach hut owners managed to fight off the Labour proposals by standing up to the Council.
In the aftermath, Wish ward Councillor Robert Nemeth established the Hove Beach Hut Association to make sure that owners would have some representation should the issue occur again, as it now has.
Beach huts are an iconic part of Brighton and Hove and part of the fabric of the city. There is a strong community and owners come from many walks of life. Plenty of owners don’t have gardens and own a beach hut to enjoy the fresh air. It is part of their City living. In some cases beach hut ownership is a tradition that has spanned many generations of owners.
There is no doubt also that beach hut owners make a positive contribution to Brighton and Hove. They provide amenity to the seafront area through their maintenance and presentation of colourful huts, something that stands out particularly in the face of increasing graffiti blighting other parts of the city.
Brighton and Hove Beach Hut owners also come together to put on regular events, such as the recent Christmas winter open day in December, where owners along the Hove Promenade threw open their doors and also raised money for charity. At this event, Hove Beach Hut Association Secretary Peter Revell helped fundraise £1,000 for the Ukrainian Community at his beach hut in conjunction Stand for Ukraine Volunteers Iryna Olyanovska and Boris Makogan. To raise £1000 in 2 hours at the beach hut association Christmas event was remarkable.
The Beach Hut community deserves the support of the Council - however they were not consulted at all before the council published its proposal last week to increase their fees by 3000%. It is a terrible indictment on the Council’s consultation processes and adds to a list of groups that have been ignored as policies have been forced through.
The Hove Beach Hut Association sprung into action this week to challenge the fees and charges proposals. They argued that it is not legally or morally fair for the council to enforce changes and that any forced changes to existing contracts signed by the council would potentially lead to protracted legal battles.
The proposed increase in the licence fees payable to the council are also highly questionable in light of the poor council services beach hut owners are receiving in return. Owners are currently experiencing closed public toilets on the promenade (there are currently 17 public toilet blocks closed across the city) and also have to deal with the general vandalism and graffiti blighting the seafront, which they always are left to clear themselves. Additionally they also have to put with the Council not enforcing by-laws along the seafront on a full range of antisocial behaviour.
The Council is now clearly targeting others to make up for its terrible financial management and the budget black hole it has created from disastrous overspends this year.
The high cost of contractors brought in to cover the cost of the council’s disastrous policies in weeding, public toilets and housing repairs is now beginning to tell.
We would urge beach hut owners who are deciding how to vote in May to think about their vote and oppose this sort of taxation from the Greens and Labour, for it will only come back again after the election if they don’t.
