Hoardings are going up around the Princes Parade site as work on the controversial seafront development continues.

Workers have been seen erecting the fences around the coastal land between Sandgate and Hythe which is earmarked for new housing, a leisure centre and other commercial buildings.

Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC), which has been the driving force behind the scheme, says people living locally can expect to see a number of changes in the coming months.

The Royal Military Canal play area is expected to close in early September, with play equipment destined to be relocated to other parts of the district.

At the same time, the Sea Point car park will also be shut, meaning the nearest parking is at Battery Point car park and on-street along Princes Parade.

To allow the hoardings around the site to be put in place, there will be rolling suspensions of parking along Princes Parade, with around 150 metres out of action at any one time.

Vegetation clearance has also been carried out to prepare the site for remediation and construction works, which led to local people raising concerns about flora and fauna affected by the work.

An FHDC spokesman said: "This has been done under specialist ecological supervision throughout, with the protection of nesting birds and welfare of other wildlife being the main priority.

"Areas where nesting birds have been identified have been left undisturbed."

It is understood as many as five breeding pairs of a protected bird, the Cetti's warbler, were nesting on the site earlier in the spring.

The bird is a Schedule 1 species, meaning that under wildlife protection laws it is an offence to "intentionally or recklessly disturb at, on or near an ‘active’ nest".

Nicki Stuart, a member of the Wild About Princes Parade (WAPP) group which has opposed the planned development of the site, said: "This is never ever going to be anything but a disastrous decision by FHDC to ruin our beloved area.

"The public are led to believe that wildlife is protected but sadly, when the developer and the planning authority are driven by greed, there is no incentive to protect anything that gets in the way of the ultimate aim - which is to put houses on this land."