A MAJOR £115m harbour walls replacement project to prevent Weymouth from future flooding could be brought forward after a new survey found that they are corroding faster than originally thought.
A survey has found that there is accelerated corrosion on two of the walls, prompting Dorset Council to take immediate safety action to move a public highway at the far end of the Peninsula back by five metres - with the loss of 35 parking spaces.
Temporary fencing will be be put in place as soon as possible and the public walkway will be moved five metres back from the harbour wall edge, using the area currently used for car parking.
Mariners are advised there is a 10-metre exclusion zone along the length of the north east facing Peninsula car park wall. This area will be closed off to the public, including mooring alongside the wall, to set up an exclusion zone for remedial wall repairs and monitoring.
Despite the action, council bosses insist the walls are not at risk of imminent collapse.
The council has been regularly monitoring the harbour walls with surveys taken in 2012 and 2019, but the most recent survey taken earlier this year has found that the corrosion is accelerating.
Over the coming weeks, Dorset Council's cabinet will decide on the best course of action to address the corrosion of the harbour walls. They will decide whether to repair the walls to extend their life by several years, or to bring forward substantial wall replacement works currently scheduled to take place in 2025/6 - a project that could take years to complete.
Councillor Mark Roberts, chair of Dorset Council's harbours committee, said: "Public safety is always our top priority. As soon as we learned of the extent of the corrosion to this area of the harbour walls from the recent survey, we agreed the best course of action is to move the public walkway in that area back by five metres while the longer term plan of action to address this is agreed.
"To be clear, there is no imminent risk of collapse of the walls, but we are taking a prudent approach based on advice from technical experts.
"A huge programme of work is already underway to maintain and protect Weymouth harbour walls against erosion and future risk of flooding.
"As part of this programme of works, Wall F and Wall G - both of which are the most exposed to the sea - were due to be replaced in 2025/6. However, the survey findings indicate that we need to act more quickly and a decision will be made on next steps over the next few weeks."
The area around the harbour is blighted by flooding when high tides combine with severe weather. But Dorset Council says this problem will get a lot worse with a predicted sea level rise of up to 1.3m over the next 100 years and more intense weather events as a result of climate change.
It is warned that without investment in managing this risk, Weymouth faces 'increasing direct losses through flooded assets and infrastructure and indirect impacts such as a failing property market due to blight and increasing social deprivation'.
The huge scale of engineering works will require investment in excess of £115 million from multiple sources.
For more information on the council's Weymouth Harbour and Esplanade floor and coastal risk management strategy, visit www.bit.ly/3vPLKg9
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