TOURIST facilities that are used by an estimated one million people each year could have to be relocated before they fall into the sea, the National Trust is warning.

The organisation, which owns Studland Beach, said that its cafes, toilets, shops, car parks and beach huts were all under threat from erosion and inundation.

A spokesman said: "In the past sea defences were installed to defend infrastructure from the ravages of winter storms and these are now failing. Popular with holidaymakers, over one million people soak up the sun here throughout the year.

"The action of the sea is eroding the southern section of this popular tourist beach by two to three metres a year."

Over the past 10 years, the trust has moved beach huts inland twice and is now speaking to other organisations to look at the possibility of relocating some of its infrastructure out of what it calls the "risk zone".

It is also removing sea defences along the beach to allow the coastline to naturally realign itself.

Phil Dyke, coast and marine adviser to the National Trust, said: "Over the next 100 years the shape of our coastline will change, and our favourite sea-side destinations may not look the way they were captured in our holiday snapshots.

"To try and predict what these places will look like in the future, the National Trust has carried out research examining how things like sea-level rise and increased storminess will affect all our coastal sites.

"From these results we know where change is most likely to happen, what this change might be and now we are looking at what this means in terms of practical management.

"At the National Trust we believe in working with natural processes wherever possible. We need to realise that our environment is not fixed and that change is inevitable.

"Society needs to learn to adapt."