THE first beach hut for Weston-super-Mare’s seafront has gone up for auction on eBay and the bidding has already passed the £2,000 mark.
The auction started at 8pm last night (Monday) and will finish on Saturday.
North Somerset Council’s planning committee last month granted permission for beach huts to be placed in two locations.
Because it has taken longer to reach the auction stage than anticipated, 24 huts will be the only ones placed on the promenade this year. Planning permission has been granted for about 100 huts on the promenade and on the former bandstand opposite the SeaQuarium.
Other leases will be auctioned off daily from Monday.
Leases will normally last 12 months, but for this year they will only guarantee hut usage until February 2016.
Beach huts are classed as non-domestic properties and therefore subject to business rates, which the tenant must pay. Anyone not currently paying business rates, or with a rateable value below £2,600, is eligible for small business rate relief and until March 31, 2016 this will mean they will not need to pay rates.
However anyone with a commercial rate of £2,600 or more, will have to pay.
Despite paying business rates, no trade can be done from the beach huts.
The huts, which will be painted blue, green or lilac, cannot be bought outright and no-one can stay in them overnight.
To bid on the hut, click here.
Current price: £2,200.
UPDATE: The highest bid was £2,550 but appears to have been revoked.
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