The site of an abandoned seafront development should be turned into a wind farm to power thousands of homes, it has been suggested.

The future of an 18-acre plot on Hythe's Princes Parade is currently unclear after controversial plans for 150 homes, a leisure centre and hotel were dropped.

Now Folkestone and Hythe District Council (FHDC) - which has been led by a Green-Lib Dem coalition since last year's local elections - is being encouraged to erect wind turbines on the prime land.

The suggestion comes from Romney Marsh Ward representative Cllr Tony Hills who feels a wind farm "would be good for Hythe".

His party was behind plans for the £45m development of the site, which was axed by the new coalition when it took power last May.

At a meeting of FHDC’s full council last week, Cllr Hills, who lives in Lydd, asked authority leader Cllr Jim Martin (Green) if the land could be used.

“With Princes Parade now lying fallow, I wondered if it could be used as a location for a wind farm to supply energy for Hythe and the district,” he said.

But Cllr Martin responded by saying the site was “too small and not deep enough” to accommodate a wind farm, and confirmed a consultation will be held with residents later this year to get views on what should be done with it.

On Monday, contractors began removing hoardings from the site’s perimeter as FHDC prepares to install new fencing.

Cllr Martin visited the site to see the first boards being removed and told KentOnline how he is happy to listen to “all suggestions” for the land.

Describing Cllr Hills’ suggestion as “tongue in cheek”, he said: “Wind farms are huge things and the site is not long enough or big enough.

“But it is really a blank sheet of paper, I am happy to put anything on the agenda.

“However, if it fell over it'd fall into the Royal Military Canal, which you can't have, so I think it was a joke.”

When approached by KentOnline, Cllr Hills admitted the suggestion was partially tongue in cheek, but says he sees the benefits of a wind farm on the site.

He said: “The land needs to be used. If we aren't going to build houses on it then what are we going to do there?”

“I think a wind farm would be good for Hythe.

“The land needs to be responsibly used and this is one of the options.”

Once the hoardings are removed, they will be replaced by a 1.2m perimeter fence made of wire mesh stretched between wooden posts to restrict access to the ex-landfill site, where contamination from its former use is known.

The previous administration said it would cost £100,000 to remove the hoardings, which cost £300,000 to install.

The bright-white barriers - previously covered in graffiti calling it a “Tory crime scene” and slated as looking like Belfast’s “peace walls” - required £30,000 worth of annual maintenance.

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”.

FHDC papers detail the new fencing will cost £70,000 to install, with a further £30,000 contingency to cover any vandalism or maintenance of the new barriers.

No formal date has been set for the consultation, but it is expected to take place in late summer/autumn this year, once the new barriers have been installed.

Last year, GSE Group, which owns Hythe Imperial Hotel on Princes Parade, revealed plans for a lakeside tourist destination on the Hythe Golf Club site.

Formal plans are yet to be submitted but the project – dubbed a “mini Center Parcs” - is set to feature a mixture of two- and three-storey chalets, a children’s play park and lakes.