Plans to clear the site of a controversial beachfront development – which has now been scrapped – have taken “a first and very large step” forward in becoming a reality.

Members of Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) voted in favour of making almost £100,000 available to remove the huge hoarding surrounding the Princes Parade site, in Hythe.

The proposal for 150 homes, a leisure centre and hotel on the land was axed by the new administration at the authority - with a Green-Lib Dem coalition taking over following the election in May.

Works on the former landfill site have been mired in controversy for years due to ballooning costs and fierce opposition campaigns.

Planning permission for the ditched development scheme was extended by three years in April, to allow for “proper conversations to be had” about restoring the site, new council leader Jim Martin (Green) said.

And now, FHDC’s cabinet have voted to use money from the existing budget for the development to pay for the removal of the large white hoardings around the site.

Cllr Martin described the botched project as a “Gordian Knot of complexity” which the council wants to unravel.

The bright white barriers - previously covered in graffiti calling it a “Tory crime scene” and slated as looking like Belfast’s “peace walls” - cost more than £300,000 to be installed.

They require £30,000 worth of annual maintenance, and the previous Conservative-led council received a quote of £100,000 to remove them.

Cllr Martin added: “It’s a step at a time, so things aren’t moving quite as quickly as I’d hoped but they are moving.”

The council’s deputy leader, Cllr Tim Prater (Lib Dem), told the cabinet last week: “This is a first and very large step in the direction that we are seeking as an administration – this will get the hoardings down.

“So that people are clear about it, that doesn’t mean that we run up there tomorrow with a screwdriver, which is a shame.”

He explained that funding was needed to survey the site, assess its safety, and keep any unsafe areas fenced off.

In total, £92,060 of the budget is now available to the council to remove the fencing, put up to protect the site and the public.

The move also means the authority will start to cancel contracts with the housing developer, UK Power Networks, and Southern Water.

A council report details that, in December, the company which provided the hoardings said they could buy them back for £47,000.

But the papers stated: “This quotation will need to be updated as the hoarding is now older and in a worse condition than at the time of the quotation.”

Cllr Prater explained the works will move forward “with as much pace as possible”.

He said: “It is a priority of this administration, it’s great to see a paper here so early doing so, we look forward to it coming down.

“We will get the hoarding down around Princes Parade as soon as we can.”

The previous Tory administration had ambitious plans to overhaul the wildlife-rich former landfill site into a luxury housing estate.

And so in 2019, the authority approved its proposals for 150 beachfront homes, alongside a swimming pool and shops.

Planning chiefs and then council leader David Monk (Con), proposed to build the homes on the Royal Military Canal’s doorstep, a 200-year-old Scheduled Ancient Monument, previously designed to protect England from Napolean’s advances through France.

Yet while the council drew up blueprints, Hythe-based campaign group Save Princes Parade marked out its battle lines.

Headed up by Hythe residents Lesley Whybrow, a chartered accountant, and Jim Martin, a chartered surveyor, the group vehemently opposed each step of the planning process in a long-running and well-documented saga, which eventually came to a head earlier this year.

Over five years, various members of Save Princes Parade ran in local district council elections and won on Green Party tickets, pledging to pull the plug on the development.

And in May, the Greens won a landslide victory and formed the largest group on Hythe Town Council and Folkestone & Hythe District Council, with Cllr Jim Martin as leader.