A BUILDING left empty after the charities using it were evicted could be turned into temporary art studios.

Beach House in Beach Street was due to be bulldozed as part of town centre regeneration plans, but they are on hold after council bosses struggled to find investors.

Charities based in the building, including Herne Bay Volunteer Centre, Volcare, Shopmobility and Epilepsy Here, were forced to relocate to make way for the plans and many of them ended up forking out for higher rents.

But the building has now been empty for almost a year and officials plan to rent it to the University of Creative Arts.

One volunteer working with the affected charities – many of which moved to Age UK's new centre in Reculver Road – said: "It's a bit of an embarrassment for the council. It was rushing to get people out of it and now is worried about leaving it empty.

"It looks like it will be handed over to the University of Creative Arts to use as studio space."

Council spokesman Rob Davies said: "The former leaseholder's tenancy of Beach House was due to end in December 2011 anyway, but early last year three of the organisations were offered alternative accommodation by Age UK, providing the opportunity to move.

"The other users of the building were also able to find a new home, and the council paid the moving costs of all the organisations.

"We would still like to have Beach House occupied, but the majority of users would want to have security of tenure, which the council is unable to offer.

"We are in discussions with the University of Creative Arts about their use of the building and the terms of a possible lease, which we hope to finalise in the near future."