Morston Parish Council is supporting the National Trust's latest proposals to modernise toilets and improve drainage in the car park on Quay Lane in the north Norfolk village near Holt.

It said after it met on Tuesday night: "The parish council is pleased to support the application, subject to the assurance given by the National Trust to the council that the car park will retain its current unmodernised look with a rough gravel finish, and that areas of planting and boundary posts etc may be removed after completion of the works."

The proposed design for the new visitor centre at Morston Quay (Image: National Trust)

Earlier plans which included a new visitor centre with offices for NT staff and a second-hand bookshop were withdrawn last summer after hundreds of objections, including from the parish council which described the new building as "abhorrent".

The trust was also accused of trying to attract more visitors to its site and commercialise the famously wild and windswept harbour.

Unveiling its new proposals, it said it had taken note of the objections and the new building would be just over half the size of the original proposals.

The existing toilets at Morston harbour, which the National Trust hopes to replace (Image: Chris Bishop)

It added they were intended to improve the site, not attract more visitors, although footfall was increasing because of the popularity of seal trips from the harbour.

The trust said temporary toilets currently standing on the site needed to be replaced because they are "insufficient to service current visitor numbers", particularly when coach parties pull up at the harbour.

Natural England has not objected, but said work should be carried out between September and November to avoid disturbance to nesting or over-wintering birds.

A view of the picturesque harbour at Morston (Image: Chris Bishop)

The Norfolk Coast partnership also supports the scaled-down plans.

"These amendments make this proposal less harmful to the local environment," it said.

No objections have so far been received on North Norfolk Council's planning portal. A decision is expected later this year.

© Eastern Daily Press