PLANS to make changes to beach hut fees and charges will be released before the end of the year.

BCP Council officers are in the midst of reviewing rates across the whole of the local authority.

As reported, a target increase of 10 per cent for all fees and charges has been set, with an aim for implementation between January and April next year.

At present details on what this will mean for all council services has not been disclosed, but there has already been confirmation of a rise in the price of the green bin service.

A council paper released last month said officers were looking to harmonise car parking charges months after some ticket prices were increased, while a review of “new areas of charges” was being carried out. This could include overnight charges being introduced in council car parks.

The forward plan for cabinet has listed ‘provision of beach huts’ as an item due to be discussed since October.

This surfaced after the collapse of the ‘commercialisation’ plan to sell off the beach hut stock to a entirely or majority-owned council company.

Originally the ‘provision of beach huts’ item had been listed for the meeting on October 26, however, it is now listed for the December 14, with the summary of: “To make recommendation regarding the in-house management and commercialisation of beach huts, including changes to eligibility, harmonisation of prices and policies and enabling capital investment.”

The Daily Echo asked the council if it was proposing to increase beach hut licence fees across the conurbation.

A BCP Council spokesperson said: “Like other local authorities across the country, we are facing significant pressures on our budget as a result of the cost of living crisis. We estimate the cost of living will add an extra £55million to the cost of running the council over the next two years while demand for our services is set to increase.

“We are tackling this head on by taking steps now so that we are prepared and this means looking at some of our commercial services, to see where we can increase income and work differently, including the council’s beach hut service. In addition, these plans continue our work to harmonise fees across BCP.

“We plan to bring a report to cabinet later this year which will set out the proposed plan for the beach huts and will be subject to the council’s decision-making process.”