One of the original centrepieces of the Felixstowe seaside experience is set to be demolished for safety reasons and replaced with a new peaceful paved area.

The Long Shelter has been a feature of the resort’s seafront gardens for nearly 100 years, but has been closed because it has became structurally unsafe with experts worried that its arches could collapse.

“The structural defects mean that the shelter really requires quite substantial rebuilding work and there have also been regular complaints that it had become a magnet for anti-social behaviour. It has left us with little alternative than to demolish it,” said Cllr Robert Whiting, Cabinet Member for Resources.

“However, we are renovating the rear wall, which pre-dates the shelter. We plan to replace the shelter with a paved area, with some seating, using pale, warm sandstone while using some of the old blocks from the shelter in the new low walls.

“It will cost us around £50,000 to carry out all the necessary work, but now we have got planning permission for the demolition and the replacement scheme, I hope that it will all be completed in time for the summer rush,” added Cllr Whiting.

It appears that the original shelter was built in either 1909 or ten years later, with seven shallow arches each spanning 3.5 metres, supported on six columns, and running along a length of 28 metres.

The proposed new area would be fully accessible so people in wheelchairs or those pushing buggies or prams will have no problem getting into this new oasis among the seafront gardens. Planting will include seaside loving plants such as lavender, rock rose, tamarix and santolina.