Hated hoardings surrounding an axed seafront development will be removed in the coming weeks – as a consultation is set to be launched over the site's future.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) has confirmed the "enormous" barriers at the Princes Parade site in Hythe will be taken down before March.

A budget of almost £100,000 has been earmarked for the removal of the hoardings and installation of a fence on the land which was destined for 150 homes, leisure centre and hotel.

But the proposals were axed by the new administration at the authority - with a Green-Lib Dem coalition taking over following the election in May last year.

The bright-white barriers - previously covered in graffiti calling it a “Tory crime scene” and slated as looking like Belfast’s “peace walls” - require £30,000 worth of annual maintenance, and the previous Conservative-led council received a quote of £100,000 to remove them.

FHDC says they will be moved to the 10,000-home Otterpool Park ‘garden town’ site at the former Folkestone Racecourse, where they will be “stored and used as required”.

Bosses say a consultation over the future of the prime seafront site will take place by late summer/autumn this year.

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Nicki Stuart, who has been campaigning against the development for several years, says she is “delighted” the hoardings are being removed.

“We are all looking forward to the horrendous hoarding being removed as an indication that the council have saved Princes Parade as they promised to do,” she said.

“I know everyone will have their thoughts about what will happen next, and I am so relieved that at last, we have a council that is protecting our unique patch of countryside meets the coast and is prepared to listen to local people.”

Campaigner Chris Farrell presented a petition against the development in 2022, telling councillors that “the community of Hythe overwhelmingly voted in 2019 to save Princes Parade”.

She now believes there is a “wonderful opportunity” for the open space.

“This is a victory for democracy, a victory for the community and a victory for common sense,” she said.

“It's a victory for the wildlife who were cruelly trapped and evicted and have now hopefully returned.

“We now have a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together and decide the future for this precious open space.”

In December, FHDC leader Cllr Jim Martin (Green) said: “One of my first commitments after being elected was to have those hoardings removed so I’m glad we’re now getting to a position where we can make that happen.”

It comes as planning papers for 220 homes on the golf club further along Princes Parade were revealed in October.

The course and adjacent 92-bed Hythe Imperial Hotel are both owned by GSE Group, which has built a number of developments in the county including Ashford International Truckstop.

The documents show the scale of the bold proposals to turn Hythe Golf Club into a lakeside tourist destination.

News that the golf course could be developed came just months after the Princes Parade scheme was axed.