BEACH hut owners have expressed doubts over whether the council will allow huts to return after a fierce storm caused major destruction.  

New Forest District Council (NFDC) has not confirmed if it will allow beach huts to return to Milford on Sea after half a mile of huts, starting at Hordle Cliff, were destroyed by Storm Kathleen creating a beach hut graveyard. 

Although the clean up has finally started after the council were unable to begin due to continued bad weather, owners of beach hut 254, Jeannie Medd, 68, and her husband, Ian Medd believe they won't return. 

Jeannie said: "I think now, because there's so much erosion and the tide is coming so much higher up that there's not really the space for them to be built. There's not enough beach left. 

"I know a lot of people are very upset but it almost makes it easier to accept if the council say, it's not safe, we're clearing the whole area."

Jeannie has owned a beach hut on Milford on Sea's beach for her whole life. 

Despite initial optimism the hut had been one of the few to hold together in the storm, Jeannie  visited the hut on April 10 to find it in a sad state.

She said: "All around it a lot had toppled over and the waves were virtually crashing onto us and it wasn't even high tide.

"I just laid down on the stones and sobbed."

Describing the loss of the beach hut as the 'end of an era', the council said if it the area is deemed unsafe, it will not allow the return of the beach huts. 

A spokesperson for New Forest District Council said: "Our operational teams have worked together across coastal sites at Hordle Cliff and Milford on Sea to deal with the impacts of the storms. This has included the removal of beach hut debris, clearance of shingle from a coastal car park and Hurst Road, and making areas of damage safe.

"We are not yet in a position to provide any further update on the removal of the beach huts with terminated licences.

"Where beach hut sites are no longer viable to site a beach hut, then the hut cannot be rebuilt. This being on the basis that either the site is no longer there or is deemed unsafe due to beach erosion and ground instability."