West Bay harbour wall repairs could disrupt traders

Food kiosks situated near the Harbour Master’s offices on Quayside could find that they are disrupted for a period of as long as six months as the repair work is carried out.

The News understands that businesses were told that work would begin in October 2023, however, Dorset Council has said that no work was planned and that they had only hoped to have started during the autumn or winter of 2023.

Upon review, the full extent of the required work was known meant this was not possible and the council informed the work could start in the first quarter of 2024.

If work starts next month it would mean a disruptive summer for some West Bay businesses.

Dorset Council’s harbours advisory committee considered it urgent that the walls be repaired in a meeting in November as it is ‘showing increasing signs of movement’ and ‘that its underlying condition is worse than anticipated’.

A Dorset Council spokesperson said: “Following ongoing assessment and weekly monitoring, it has become clear that Wall B of West Bay harbour needs more significant repair works than anticipated to prevent it collapsing in the future.

“The latest proposed repairs recommend a new wall construction, which – given the location and complexity of the works – may take up to 6 months.

“Our engineering team are working with specialist consultants to confirm the construction detail, timeframe, and scheduling of the works, and we hope to receive this information later this month.

“This will provide a better understanding of the extent of the repairs, including the timeline, together with any key milestones which could impact on whether the kiosks can be operated in their current location at any point during the construction works.

“We have been keeping local business owners informed throughout, and recently let them know of the potential for a necessary temporary closure of their food outlets while the work takes place.

“We’ll be meeting with them in the coming weeks to discuss their concerns, consider the timeframe of any potential closures, and explore possible measures to support them throughout.”

Bridport Town Councillor Ian Bark was sympathetic to both sides, as the work clearly needs to be done, but minimising the impact to local traders would be preferable.

He added: “Clearly repairs to the wall need to be done.

“Unfortunately, as with all these things there is no good time to do them, if you are going to tackle this it is best to do it in close season not peak season, most definitely.

“As to why it has started later than scheduled I am not sure.

“I have great sympathy with Dorset Council and the utility people, in the real world stuff happens.

“Obviously, I am sympathetic to the situation the businesses find themselves in and as to if there will be any compensation schemes,  or if it will finish early I don’t know.

“I am getting the feeling visitor numbers are down from previous years and that could be a greater impact.”

The News approached owners of food kiosks for comment. Two did not want to comment and others were unavailable.