The Blue Flag beach at Sandbanks attracts thousands of visitors

The average house in Sandbanks, Poole, Dorset, sells for more than �500,000 and last week a luxury waterfront home on the peninsula sold for nearly �10m.

But Poole council said the recreation ground is in need of a facelift and plans to spend about �1m revamping the beachfront area.

The first step will be a children's play area at a cost of �250,000.

What you can see is a vast expanse of tarmac and a car park Matti Raudsepp

A report by the Borough of Poole's Leisure Services said the area had, in the past, been a "vibrant recreation facility", but had suffered from "unplanned, piecemeal development" in the past 40 years.

The vision for the future is to recreate the "sense of arrival and destination... lost with the haphazard development of the car park and the other facilities", the report stated.

Sandbanks is one of the most expensive places to live in the UK

The plans also include transforming the beach entrance, which is currently dominated by a car park. The flat pavilion roof will be restored, trees planted and new pedestrian routes and benches built.

The council also wants to create a water play feature - an area where dinghies can be launched into Poole Bay.

Matti Raudsepp, open spaces manager at the Borough of Poole, said: "When you arrive at Sandbanks you have the beautiful view towards the harbour but you can't see the sea. What you can see is a vast expanse of tarmac and a car park.

"We want to create the impression that when visitors arrive, they can see they have arrived at one of the most beautiful beaches in the country."

"We are trying to redress the ad hoc development that has taken place on the site."