- Frenzy to sign up for huts after waiting list opened for first time in 7 years
- Applicants left frustrated after Poole council's website crashed under strain
- After 24 hours application page had been visited 8,540 times
A council website crashed after almost 3,500 people rushed to join a waiting list for an exclusive hut at the millionaire's resort of Sandbanks.
The frenzy to sign up for a sought-after beach hut at the luxury destination in Poole, Dorset, took place after the waiting list opened up for the first time in seven years.
But applicants were left frustrated after Poole council's website crashed under the strain of the web traffic.
Almost 3,500 rushed to join a waiting list for beach huts at Sandbanks after it opened for the first time in seven years
But applicants were left frustrated after Poole council's website crashed under the strain of the web traffic caused by people clamouring for a hut on the peninsula
After 24 hours the application page had been visited 8,540 times - but just 223 people succeeded in signing up to the list.
Council officials apologised on Twitter for the crash, which lasted around 30 minutes.
A post from the official council account said: 'Our system has been unable to cope with the number of people trying to sign up to the beach hut list.
'We will post when it is fixed. Sorry.'
The list costs £25 to join but successful applicants will have to fork out between £1,100 and £1,800-a-year to rent the huts, often little more than a wooden shed.
A council spokeswoman said between 80 and 90 beach huts become available each year and plans to build 79 new huts by 2015 have been given the green light by councillors.
The list costs £25 to join but successful applicants will have to fork out between £1,100 and £1,800-a-year to rent the huts, often little more than a wooden shed
Sandbanks was the first of seven areas featuring beach huts (inset) around Poole to be opened to applications, with waiting lists for the remaining sites being opened on a weekly basis
The list was closed in 2007 after the average waiting time shot up to around 10 years but councillors decided to reopen it when numbers dropped to 200.
Sandbanks was the first of seven areas featuring beach huts around Poole to be opened to applications, with waiting lists for the remaining sites being opened on a weekly basis.
Judy Butt, a cabinet member at Poole council, said: 'We knew that reopening Poole's beach hut waiting list after seven years would be popular but the demand we received at midday was higher than we could have predicted.
'We had almost 3,500 visits to our webpage and unfortunately our systems were unable to cope with this.
'We were able to resolve the issues within 30 minutes.'
Sandbanks has been described as the fourth most expensive place in the world to buy real estate after New York, London and Tokyo
Local residents vented their frustration after struggling to sign up to the waiting list.
Sarah Gow, 43, from Poole, said: 'When the site went down, I called 10 times before I got through, and they said that they couldn't take details as the system was down.'
Sam Devlin, 46, from Poole, added: 'We were very keen to get on the list and for many years it was closed, which was frustrating.'
SANDBANKS: THE 'FOURTH MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE IN THE WORLD TO BUY PROPERTY'
Sandbanks has been described as the fourth most expensive place in the world to buy real estate after New York, London and Tokyo.
The average house costs £522,242, although some of the harbourside mansions can sell for up to £12million.
Celebrities who live in the area include football manager Harry Redknapp, his son Jamie and cricketer Geoffrey Boycott.
In September, the Daily Mail reported how research suggested £80million worth of property was either for sale or had changed hands in recent months on the peninsula.
The figure remarkably referred to only 15 homes.
The resort’s exclusivity is borne out by the fact that many houses are sold, only to be demolished immediately to make way for new buildings that make the most of every last square inch of their plot.
Thus, modest Sixties bungalows have been redeveloped into striking glass-and-concrete mansions.
There are only 70 or so homes around the edge of the peninsula, making a location with sea frontage the most sought-after — and the 40 or so houses that have direct water access to Poole Harbour go for a serious premium.
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