A CASH-STRAPPED council will have to make a decision about Weymouth’s historic beach chalets as the repair bill is likely to be more than £3million.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is under pressure to explore options for the restoration and improvements of the chalets that it owns along with other parts of Greenhill Gardens.

It follows an unsuccessful bid for Government ‘Sea Change’ funding to make garden improvements.

Despite this, English Heritage has told the council it supports many of the principles in the bid for funding and could well contribute towards the cost of chalet refurbishment.

The issues come as the authority is having to take some drastic measures to plug a projected £1.5million black hole in its budget.

The main chalets at the centre of the debate are the 60 concrete buildings fronting Greenhill promenade which were listed as Grade Two structures last year because of their historic interest.

The council says the lower deck of the two-tier chalets will have to close soon so councillors will have to decide the way forward in ‘difficult circumstances’.

To restore the two-tier chalets the council says it will need to find £2.65million over two to three years.

An additional £350,000 needs to be found to repair the single-tier chalets within a couple of years.

The other chalets at Greenhill, including the timber structures in Greenhill Gardens and the buildings at Sluice Gardens, all need decorating within the next year, which would add around £80,000 to costs.

Council officers have been working on a business case to consider how the chalets could be maintained, including an option to link up with the private sector. A public meeting has been held with chalet users and a workshop for councillors is planned before Christmas.

As all chalet licences terminate in March, 2010 Management Committee members yesterday decided to extend all existing licences on a one-year or summer-only basis.

The committee is expected to come to a decision in January.

Leisure and tourism spokesman Brendan Webster said: “If the chalets operated commercially they are still chalets in this borough.

“My view is that we make the best decision economically rather than thinking of what we want to control.”

Finance and assets spokesman Peter Chapman said the issues for councillors to decide is how much control the council wants to assert and the scale of improvements.