PLANS to increase sales tax on beach huts by 3,000 per cent have been scrapped, The Argus can reveal.

The controversial proposals would have meant a ten per cent charge placed on the huts when they were sold.

Owners would have to pay Brighton and Hove city Council about £2,500 instead of the current £82 fee.

The news sparked uproar among beach hut owners, many of who said they had been kept in the dark about the move.

Now the Labour-run council has U-turned and withdrawn the controversial increase.

Conservative councillor for Wish ward Robert Nemeth, who championed the owners’ cause, said: “I was disgusted that the Labour administration was threatening to crush the huts of owners who did not comply with their bullying approach.

“In standing up for what’s right, we have been able to beat yet another assault on Hove – this time on the iconic family beach huts.”

Many of the 459 owners said they had been unaware of the proposals announced in January and had only found out through coverage in The Argus.

They would have been forced into the contract under threat of their huts being removed.

A clause in the contract gives the council power to evict owners with just one month’s notice.

Hut owner Peter Reeves said he was relieved the council was now backing down.

He said: “This is excellent news.

“We’ve been fighting them on many grounds since the announcement.

“It was a misconceived policy and pushed through horribly by the council without consultation.”

He said many owners were in the dark about the plans as the council had made no attempt to communicate with them.

Jason Jefferies, another beach hut owner, said: “I just couldn’t understand how they could charge such a large fee for a relatively straightforward transaction.

“Cllr Nemeth and I were out on Wednesday handing out flyers and we found that many had no idea this was happening.

“It’s very disconcerting that the council could operate in this way.”

Cllr Nemeth said he would continue to defend the beach hut owners.

He said “In painting such an inaccurate picture of beach hut owners as the oligarchs of the seafront, they lost the support of the general public who knew this situation to be entirely false. If a private landlord threatened a revenge eviction like this, the council would quite rightly be horrified.”

Cllr Nemeth, whose ward contains the highest number of beach huts in Brighton and Hove, said he gained cross-party support to force a full council vote on the plans.

The policy was originally announced at the tourism committee, in which Labour has a majority.

But with support from the Greens and after two Labour councillors abstained, the matter was deferred.

Cllr Nemeth said he discovered that if a committee is yet to make a decision, a full council vote can be called.

The Labour administration does not have a majority at full council and withdrew the proposals rather than risk defeat, he said.

The council said the proposals had been designed to “modernise the agreement between the council and the owners and bring transfer fees in line with neighbouring authorities”.

It said: “Any revenue raised would have been spent on the management of the seafront.

“However, after listening carefully to the concerns raised by beach hut owners, and following committee, where councillors voted to defer the proposals for further consideration, it has now been decided to withdraw the proposal for new terms and conditions to apply to existing licences.”