Plans to repair and restore historic pier submitted

Plans to repair and restore a historic pier have been officially submitted by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

North Somerset Council and the RNLI want to restore Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare, as well as returning the town's lifeboat station to the site.

If the application is approved, it would allow the structure of the Grade II-listed pier itself to be restored, allowing public access.

Andy Wright, RNLI Area Operations Manager for Weston-super-Mare, said it marked "a critical step" towards resuming lifesaving operations.

He added: "‘It’s great, after months of hard work, by many people behind the scenes, to have finally reached the stage of applying for planning permission for this stage of the project."

The overall plan to restore the pier is being jointly led by the RNLI and North Somerset Council and will require several planning applications to be fully realised.

The plans also include a café and visitor centre.

Last month, the council announced that plans for the restoration of the old pier master's cottage and visitor centre had been approved, but the new RNLI application is the first submitted plan to repair and restore the pier itself.

It is likely an application to build a new lifeboat station on the island will also be submitted later this year, according to the RNLI.

Councillor Mark Canniford, North Somerset Council's executive member responsible for the Birnbeck Pier project, expressed his delight that the proposal had been submitted.

"Not only does it represent that we’ve reached another important milestone in the project timeline, it also demonstrates that the RNLI and North Somerset Council are working closely together to achieve shared objectives," he said.

Much of the funding for the project has come from grants.

So far £940,000 has been secured from Historic England, £3.44m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and £4.47m from the government's Levelling up Fund.

These will cover a mixture of restoration of the pier structure, safety works and restoration of buildings.

But despite these grants there remains a funding shortfall of £11.7m.

The council hopes a fast-tracked application for £10m from the National Lottery will cover most of this.

North Somerset councillors agreed last week that reallocated funds would cover the rest.

The authority recently announced it was facing significant financial pressures - and aside from staff time, all the funding for the pier restoration comes from grants or RNLI funds.

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