Founded in 1990, the Association aims to represent, support and safeguard the interests of its members who own beach huts at Barton-on-Sea, Calshot, Hordle Cliff or Milford-on-Sea. We hope you will find information of use and interest in these pages, whether you are a general enquirer or looking for information in our members’ only section.
The Association’s purpose, set out in its constitution, is to advise, represent, and liaise with New Forest District Council and other authorities on behalf of its members across all matters relating to the ownership of beach huts. Membership is by annual subscription and there are currently over 400 huts whose owners are members. The Association is headed up by a committee of currently 7, though 1 additional member is being sought. Although not a Registered Charity, the Association makes donations to charitable organisations from time to time.
Your Committee is in the process of making arrangements for the Association's 2022 Annual General Meeting. So, a date for your diary - Wednesday 27 April 2022 at 6.30 pm; venue - Lyndhurst Community Centre. All Association members are welcome to attend.
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On Friday 10 December, your NFBHOA committee met Judith Lacey and Steve Cook of NFDC Coastal team to discuss a number of items of interest and concern to beach hut owners. Amongst the items on the agenda was the annual Site Licence Fee, and New Forest District Council’s proposals for increases for 2022-2023.
Steve Cook indicated that to keep pace with increases in costs which NFDC is seeing, it was proposed to increase the Site Licence Fee by 12%. NFBHOA committee members argued that 12% is significantly above the current rate of inflation and that the increase should be reduced. Steve Cook agreed to discuss the increase with his department head and has since advised that the proposed increase has been reduced to 10% (or more precisely 9.7% allowing for the rounding down numbers to whole numbers of pounds).
The picture on site licence fees is complicated by value added tax which is levied by HM Revenue and Customs on the fees. The normal rate of VAT in the UK is now, and has been over preceding years, set at 20%. However, for 2021-2022 due to the Covid pandemic, HMRC allowed a reduction to 5% in the VAT charged on payments for council services. While some councils did not pass on this reduction to the users of their services, NFDC was one which did indeed pass it on in full.
For the 2022-2023 financial year, your NFBHOA committee was anticipating that the VAT rate would revert to 20% but were pleased to hear from Steve Cook that for the site licence fee invoices to be issued to hut owners in March 2022, a VAT rate of 12.5% will be applied.
The net result of these two changes, 10% (or more precisely 9.7%) increase in site licence fee and VAT at 12.5%, is that hut owners will see on the invoice they receive in March 2022 an increase in the charge including VAT totalling 17.5% when compared with the invoice for 2021-2022.
The NFDC representatives also advised that all huts on NFDC land have been re-measured over the past weeks. When site licence fee invoices are issued in March 2022, hut owners are advised to check that their hut remains in the correct charging band.
Two new size bands are also being added as some huts have been seen to be well above the sizes for the largest charging band in the present scheme.
The licence transfer fee, payable to NFDC on the sale of a hut, is set to remain at £400 ex VAT. Currently, VAT on this fee is set at 12.5%, resulting in a charge of £450 including VAT. From 1 April 2022, the VAT rate applicable to this fee will revert to 20%, resulting in a charge of £480 including VAT.
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We take crime very seriously and have written to both the local police and MP in relation to reporting and reducing crime. This is an ongoing matter and we will work with all members. Advice on this can be found at: https://www.newforestbeachhuts.com/#security.
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As a reminder, we have introduced a Beach Hut Sales option on our website. This is a free facility members can use. Please visit https://www.newforestbeachhuts.com/hut-sales for more information.
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NFDC have advised that from 3 August, you will no longer be able to contact them on 023 80 28 5588. If you have the 5588 number stored anywhere, please delete it to save you misdialling in future. If you call that number you will hear a recorded message to advise that the number is no longer in use.
All the other NFDC telephone numbers remain unchanged and 023 80 28 5000 is the customer services number.
Before telephoning you may wish to save time by visiting the website http://www.newforest.gov.uk where there is information about NFDC's services.
By visiting https://www.newforest.gov.uk/article/1162/Contact-us you will also see all NFDC contact options including using a web-chat with the customer services team.
You can email NFDC at customer.services@nfdc.gov.uk
If you call customer services you will hear a list of options. Please listen carefully so you can select the right one for the service you need. Your call will then be automatically put through to the service you want, or you will be connected to customer services.
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The Income and Expenditure Accounts for 2020-2021 were presented at the 2021 AGM and the accounts are instead available for Members to view in the Members Only section, by clicking on AGM minutes (current and archive).
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Following the resignation of our Acting Chairman, Alice Burch, the Association is again seeking a new Chairman.
If you are interested in being the Chairman please contact Jan Wise for further details: hon.secretary@newforestbeachhuts.com
Prospective nominees will need to be members of the Association.
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If you see anti-social behaviour or criminal activity in progress, do not intervene, but call 999.
Report any suspicious behaviour you see, or damage to your hut which you believe may have been caused by criminal activity, to the police on 101.
Be ready to give the postcode for the incident. For Barton on Sea BH25 7DU, Calshot SO45 1BR, Hordle Cliff SO41 0UX and Milford SO41 0PY.
Looking around your neighbours’ huts is invaluable. Please report any damage found to your NFBHOA beach rep. For contact, see: https://www.newforestbeachhuts.com/#contactus
or phone NFDC on 02380 285000, email: coastal.team@nfdc.gov.uk
Outside normal office hours call NFDC’s emergency service on 023 8028 5250. In the unlikely event you are unable to contact NFDC on this number, you can call an emergency mobile number: 07771 259098.
https://www.newforest.gov.uk/article/1162/Contact-us
NFBHOA has notice boards at all the beaches with information regarding tides (Calshot does in the summer) and general information which you may find useful in an emergency.
Advice for Beach Hut Owners - Autumn and Winter
Autumn / winter is an interesting time at the beach, but there are fewer people about to look out for problems with huts and weather may cause damage too. So, the first step to keep your hut safe and secure is to make sure that it is in good condition and that it is properly locked-up. If repair work is needed, a list of contractors can be found by visiting our Members Only page (password required) and clicking the link to Beach Hut Repair / Maintenance Contractors:
https://www.newforestbeachhuts.com/members-only/
If you are closing your hut for the winter, please be sure to remove any items of value and all gas bottles.
Under the licence issued to owners by New Forest District Council for beach huts on our 4 beaches, no renting of huts is permitted under any circumstances.
Responsible dog owners and their dogs are welcome on our beaches, but it is advisable to keep dogs on long leads. Please clean up after your dog has fouled.
Reports have been received of white lumps of congealed palm oil on New Forest beaches. Dog owners are warned that this material causes severe illness if ingested by their pets. If you see this material on a beach, please advise NFDC's Customer Services by phoning 023 8028 5000 or by email at: customer.services@nfdc.gov.uk
