An architect has defended controversial designs for a multi-million pound seafront development and insists his team “will not be going back to the drawing board”.

Horrified residents have labelled the tower blocks that could be raised as part of the transformation of Folkestone’s harbour as “hideous” and compared them to something out of The Flintstones.

But one of the lead architects for the project, Duarte Lobo Antunes, says there “definitely will not be major changes to the designs”.

Speaking to KentOnline at a consultation event at Customs House at the harbour today, Mr Antunes said he hopes “people will grow to like them”.

“We are taking this step by step,” he said.

“We are here to see what people have to say and some things put forward to us might be things we have not thought about.

“Some things will change and some things will remain. As the design matures and becomes something people get used to, hopefully people will grow to enjoy these.

“There will definitely not be huge changes to the designs.”

The 40-year-old, who lives in London, says following the uproar when the designs were revealed earlier this week, he re-watched some episode of The Flintstones and believes the two are not comparable.

“I went back and re-watched The Flintstones and I did not see anything as cool as what we have designed,” he said.

“Comment sections in newspapers are not very constructive in terms of how our cities will change.

“We have been at this for quite some time now.

“The designs are slowly crystalising and I don’t envisage us going back to the drawing board completely.”

The architects’ vision was unveiled as the Folkestone Harbour & Seafront Development Company (FHSDC) – which is led by philanthropist Sir Roger De Haan – launched a new consultation into the scheme, which is the final stage of its masterplan for the town’s coastline.

The project will see 600 homes built, along with retail and leisure facilities, in the harbour area of the town.

The designs show how the towers would be built on the site of the current harbour arm car park, which is often completely full due to the attraction’s popularity.

The appearance of ‘The Lookout’ blocks particularly drew criticism.

“Welcome to Bedrock,” one KentOnline reader said, with another adding: “Yabba dabba doo!”

Folkestone resident Georgina Baker, who has started a petition to “block the blocks”, attended the public consultation today and says the plans “must be stopped”.

“They are doing their best to try and sell these properties – I just don’t believe these buildings are right for this area,” she said.

When told there would be no major changes being made to the designs, Ms Baker was left feeling “infuriated”.

She added: “They are buildings which are being taken out of London and being plonked on our space.

“I feel like we have been deceived as residents.”

Even though the plans continue to take shape, Ms Baker believes the project can still be stopped.

She explained: “This has all been pushed through so quietly – but while nothing has been built this can still be stopped.

“We can’t allow this to go through. The architects have no idea.”

At the previous public consultation on May 12, residents also raised concerns over parking.

Mr Antunes explained today that a full basement car park under each of the plots will be built, aiming to deliver “around 1,000 spaces”.

The spaces will be split between new residents in the tower blocks and members of the public.

“Currently, on-site, there are around 550 car parking spaces. I don't think we will quite reach this but it should be between 400-500 spaces for visitors,” he said.

Outline planning permission for FHSDC’s masterplan – which stretches between the Leas Lift in the west to the lighthouse in the east – was granted in 2015 for between 720 and 1,000 new homes, plus 10,000 sq m of leisure, hospitality and retail space.

The first stage was the construction of the Shoreline Crescent flats on the seafront. They have now been built, featuring townhouses that start at £1.8m and could go as high as £3 million for a penthouse suite. People are expected to start moving in around August.

Sir Roger De Haan revealed that any prospective buyers will be banned from turning the properties into Airbnbs, which had been a major concern of locals. But he admitted that even the lowest priced of the 84 new-builds – at £430,000 – will likely be too expensive for most Folkestone residents.

FHSDC is now presenting its detailed proposals for the harbour area, where the homes are expected to be more affordable.

Experiencing new-look harbour via virtual reality

During today’s consultation, new 3D designs were put on display and a VR experience was offered for members of the public to try.

KentOnline put on the VR headpiece and took a virtual tour around the proposed development.

The VR experience was impressive, it gave us the first opportunity to really see what the harbour would look like once complete.

The first thing to notice was the large amount of shaded areas because of the tall buildings. Only a small amount of the area was exposed to sunlight.

The tower blocks are vast, but there are clear walkways for members of the public to go through and it looks as if some space has still been left for tourists to enjoy the seaside views.