ROADS will be temporarily closed at Weymouth harbour from today as Dorset Council carries out changes to provide an outside seating area for pubs and restaurants.

As reported, the council is making changes at Custom House Quay to help businesses reopen on April 12.

There will also be an outside seating area on the south side of the harbour.

Custom House Quay will be closed for three days to allow work to go ahead and is due to reopen on Thursday.

All free one-hour parking bays on Custom House Quay will be taken out of use throughout the summer as part of the new temporary traffic arrangements, however loading bays are being made available for harbour vessels and businesses.

The council said that the current three day road closure is needed so that machinery can be used to plane and surface the parking bay areas.

A 'drilling rig' will also be used to prepare for wooden bollards to be installed, and new road markings painted.

On the south side of the harbour, there will also be a new temporary outside seating area created for Nanna Moon’s Café Bar, the Kings Arms pub and Bennett’s Fish and Chips.

No road closure will be needed and parking and access for vehicles will remain unchanged.

Under the Government's lockdown roadmap, only pubs and restaurants with outside seating will be able to open on April 12.

A public consultation was held earlier this year where residents were asked to give their views on a similar scheme that the council said it wants to bring in next year.

Dorset Council said over half of respondents were in favour - although plans for a contraflow cycle lane were not supported and will be reconsidered.

Dorset Echo: Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “It was always going to be a challenge to please everyone as this is a heavily mixed-use area with harbour vessels, hospitality businesses, parking and an attractive setting for residents and visitors to enjoy.

“As a result of the survey responses we’ll be incorporating some of these elements as part of a temporary layout to help hospitality business reopen with outdoor seating on 12 April.

“Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to keep all the parking bays while improving the layout of Custom House Quay for an enhanced residents and visitor experience. The space we are able to allocate for vehicles needs to be prioritised for loading and unloading for businesses using the harbour and for disabled access into the town centre."