A campaign has begun to restore a number of Birchington’s sea shelters to their former glory.

The bid to renovate the iconic structures dotted along the coastline is being taken on by activists through a Facebook group.

A charitable trust is also being set up to help raise funds for the project. There have been additional calls for lottery funding.

The shelters, which appear on Thanet District Council’s asset disposal list, have been battered by poor weather conditions.

Some are in poor condition and costs to renovate them may be high.

Chris Cooling, who is involved the campaign to get the work started, believes they would fall under parish and town council control. He said: “The shelters are falling down.

“Some of them are more than 100 years old and I think the strategy of Thanet District Council is probably OK.”

Originally it was thought all that might need doing was to paint them.

However, an assessment by campaigners has revealed some of the plots are sinking into the ground and that windows are missing.

The move to improve them has been met by opposition, with some people believing the sea shelters should be knocked down and replaced with benches.

Mr Cooling, however, said this defeated the object of having them on the seafront in the first place. He said: “The shelters have four different points where you can sit in them.

“The whole point of them being there is that if it is windy on one side of the shelter, then you can move around to another side where it is not so rough. I think there needs to be support from volunteers in the effort to get them restored.”

The campaign was started by Karen Everest and Dave Adams, who have set up another Facebook group to attract volunteers and raise awareness of the need for repairs.