Beach hut owners have won a rent rebate after summer work on sea defences stopped them from using their cabins.

They will now get back more than two-thirds of the £230-a-year rent they paid to Brighton and Hove City Council.

Work on a £10 million sea defence project between Rottingdean and Brighton Marina meant the owners of a dozen huts on Rottingdean seafront could only use them at weekends during the summer.

Angry owners lobbied the city council for a rebate but were refused.

The council told them demand for the huts was so high, it could easily re-let them to those on the beach hut waiting list.

Now the authority has had a change of heart. At an environment committee meeting, lead councillor Gill Mitchell said each tenant would receive a rebate of £164.

She also announced there would be a full review of beach huts, their locations and the rents paid all over the city.

News of the climbdown delighted Rottingdean beach hut owners.

Frederick Davis, 81, said: "I am very pleased. It is a fair settlement. I am glad the council has at last acted fairly."

Rottingdean Tory councillor Lynda Hyde, who supported the tenants, said: "If there is going to be a rent review I hope the refund to these tenants is not in some way clawed back."