DORSET County Council will help fund an inquiry into the grounding of the MSC Napoli.

Councillors have approved a £5,000 donation to look at the environmental impact of the 62,000-tonne container ship that ran aground in Branscombe Bay last year.

Devon County Council is leading the inquiry to discover what lessons can be learned from the incident and the impact it had on the Jurassic Coast.

Council deputy leader and cabinet member for environment Hilary Cox told councillors: "We cannot back off from our World Heritage Site obligations.

"We have a duty of care to protect the World Heritage Site and so we obviously have a real interest in the inquiry.

"I urge you to support us in this."

Coun David Crowhurst added: "I think it's important we do get involved because there must be lessons we can learn.

"It is important we make this contribution."

A report presented to the council cabinet said: "It is imperative that we take this opportunity to learn from this unfortunate event as any threat to our coast has serious social, economic and environmental implications.

"Anything that may be done to reduce the potential for a similar incident, or will inform the management of future incidents, would be extremely helpful.

"Issues and concerns which may not have been heard previously may also arise through the evidence gathered."

The cabinet agreed to support the inquiry and give over staff time to help.