THE regeneration of Weymouth could lead to a £66 million boost for the economy.

The claims come as progress on regenerating parts of the town centre and the harbourside areas has taken another step forward.

It has been calculated that the proposals could be worth £66 million to the area’s economy, bringing hundreds of jobs.

The approvals for the next stages, made at Tuesday’s Dorset Council Cabinet, include the re-development of the former borough council offices and the Weymouth Bowl sites and works to crumbling harbour walls to protect the Peninsula.

Land may also be acquired for redevelopment off Westwey and Newstead Roads.

Weymouth Green councillor Brian Heatley told Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that there would be relief in the town that something was about to start.

“There will, at last, be something happening on these site. We may disagree about what those things are, but It has been such a long time and it’s great to see something beginning to happen,” he told the meeting.

Portfolio holder for levelling up and economic development, Cllr Simon Gibson, said approval of the plans confirmed the council’s commitment to spending the £19.5m in Government grants it had achieved for the town as part of longer term improvements, with a £3.5m match funding from the council.

But the meeting heard that not all the longer-term plans have been fully costed, or budgeted for.

Overall the proposals are expected to see 7,800sq metres of leisure and commercial development, primarily on the Peninsula site and close to the Marina with 374 affordable and market homes being built.

Additional land for some of the projects has been earmarked on the west side of the Marina at Westwey and Newstead Roads, subject to Government funding agreement and satisfactory results on ground conditions there.

Cllr Gibson said the procurement process for the redevelopment of the North Quay site would ‘work with the market’ while still giving Dorset Council control over what would be built there. While that happens the site will be levelled to become a car park. Work will also be undertaken to find a development partner to work with the council on the Weymouth Bowl site, provisionally ear-marked mainly for housing.

Further strengthening work and improvements are to take place on walls F & G on the Peninsula, possibly starting in the autumn.

If all goes to plan the replacement of the walls is expected to be procured in the spring with work starting on site in September, finishing in March 2025. In all more than 500metres of sheet piles will be replaced on the northern side of the Peninsula and either side of the old Merlin tower location.

A report concludes that delaying the seawall work is not an option: “The walls are in poor condition, they have no residual life left and slow onset failure has commenced. There is a high risk of failure should we not intervene, and the area is currently closed-off to public access.”

The work to the walls is expected to cost £10.7m, with £6.5m being found from levelling up funding, leaving £4.2 to yet be identified, although the council says it is confident of finding it.

Portland councillor Paul Kimber said he welcomed the proposal saying that the jobs it would generate would be important to the South Dorset economy.

“As you know  we have never got over the closure of the Naval base and the many jobs which were lost there… I hope this, in the long-term, will provide us with many, many secure jobs,” he said.

A council report predicts 600 constructions jobs from the projects and 220 long-term operational jobs – the combined value to the local economy being put at £66million.

Council leader Cllr Spencer Flower said he hoped that what he described as “a strong dialogue” would continue as the plans progressed involving Weymouth Town Council and others.