A COUNCIL has applied for retrospective planning permission for its own ladders at West Bay harbour.

Last year West Dorset District Council put in the 40 steel ladders in the Grade II listed West Bay harbour to replace old wooden ones.

The authority has already come in for criticism from Bridport Town Council for doing the work without planning permission.

Now it is attempting to formalise the position and has applied for retrospective planning permission which has to be determined by the Secretary of State.

A report has gone to the council’s own development control committee of June 2 asking to refer the application to the secretary with a recommendation to grant consent.

The council argues the work needed to be done for health and safety reasons and several rungs on the timber steps had already broken causing accidents.

Case officer Darren Rogers said in the report that after the ladders were removed it was obvious they had significant structural defects, including rot, shrinkage, splits and corroded nails.

Replacing them with more wooden ladders was only likely to last five to seven years, he said.

Mr Rogers added: “The sudden failure of a rung on a ladder can have serious consequences, including a fatality.” An historic assessment report concluded the impact of the new ladders on the fabric of the harbour and its historic character was ‘negligible’.

It says that the wooden ladders have only been a feature of the 19th century harbour for the last 45 years.

But in February Bridport Town Councillors said they were appalled the work had been done without planning permission.

Nor did they agree that the impact on the historic character of the harbour was negligible.