A PENSIONER is calling for a public garden to be reopened to the community ahead of the 2012 sailing events.

Brian Rookes, 71, is calling for Chapelhay Gardens in Weymouth, which has been locked for safety reasons as a result of a crumbling wall, to be made public again.

The Chapelhay resident, who is a retired laboratory mechanic from Admiralty Underwater Weapons Establishment at Portland, said: “I spoke to the council about it in December and they said the garden has got a structure problem.

“Basically a water main broke on the top and washed all the wall down, the council have been in there reinforcing the walls at the back of council offices but haven’t touched top at Chapelhay Street.

“It’s been locked for over two and a half years now, so when’s it going to reopen?

“There’s been so much talk about Nothe Gardens because of the Olympic sailing events but we’ve got a beautiful view from Chapelhay Gardens, when its open you can see the inner harbour.

“About three years ago the Chapelhay Pact group planted a load of flowers in there thanks to a donation from the Old Rooms, they got it looking nice.

“Now it’s starting to look a sorry state and the back of the old town hall has become a dumping ground for old tin cans.

“We have the chance of people sitting in there and really enjoying it, having a lovely time with a picnic. The way it is at the moment, it’s an utter mess. With the Olympics coming up and all this talk about legacy, it really is terrible, it’s like Fort Knox with wire fences, really ugly.”

A Weymouth and Portland Borough Coastguard spokesman said: “The Chaplehay Gardens was closed to the public after a landslide, and the area is dangerous and liable to further slippage of soil and masonry.

“The council has been carrying out repair works to stabilise the worst affected walls, however an independent engineer’s assessment shows that in order to meet the safety requirements needed to open the gardens for public use, extensive extra works would have to be carried out.”