THIS is the first look at Weymouth’s spectacular new laser lights.
The Veils of Light scheme, which will dramatically change the look of Weymouth seafront, has been finally approved after months of wrangling, with councillors praising its innovative design.
It is hoped the lasers will be switched on by next February.
In agreeing to the lasers, Weymouth and Portland Borough Council had to add a proviso to satisfy the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) that the lights will not interfere with search and rescue operations.
The council says it will turn off the lights if the coastguard helicopter has to perform a rescue in Weymouth Bay.
The MCA said it was satisfied the lasers would not interfere with the helicopter’s flight path into its Portland base but sought assurances from the council over operations off Weymouth.
The council’s planning and traffic committee was asked to approve the lighting columns for the scheme. The lasers themselves, which will be added later, do not need planning permission but approval has to be sought from a number of bodies including the MCA.
Seven columns of different colours resembling giant fountain pens, varying in height from 14 metres to 15 metres tall, will stand at different points along the prom projecting green laser lights downwards at angles a few hundred metres into the sea.
The lasers will be computer-controlled and will operate during the evening but not throughout the night. The patterns and times are still to be decided.
The Veils of Light project by Parsons Brinckerhoff, on behalf of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, is a central part of the seafront regeneration project. Modern lighting is replacing the Victorian lighting columns and the traditional string of coloured bulbs.
Funding for the £450,000 lighting scheme has come from the Arts Council and Regional Development Agency.
The Veils of Light concept was created by artists Claire Oboussier and Vong Phaophanit who say it is not just a light show but rather ‘an ongoing poem written by the weather to people in Weymouth’.
A report by Parsons Brinckerhoff says: “The scheme has been developed to create a contemporary addition to an area already subject to different periods of architecture reflected in both the built form and features in the public realm. The scheme will encourage regeneration and introduce a contemporary high quality design element into the Esplanade. The seven columns form a sweep along the seafront and out into the bay, helping to connect the built form of the Esplanade to the beach and the water beyond.”
When the plan was first mooted it encountered objections. Pages were set up on Facebook objecting to the removal of the fairy lights.
The lasers are actually much more cost-effective than the strings of coloured bulbs, whose general upkeep cost thousands.
But one of the original objectors to the lasers, Dave Burchill of Weymouth, said his concerns still stood.
He said: “I think it’s a complete and utter waste of time and money.
“The fairy lights made Weymouth feel like a holiday town. It was a backwards step to remove them.”
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council had hoped the lasers would be in place by the summer but a working group of councillors raised concerns about the column design and laser patterns during a series of trials over the past year, which has caused delays.
A report to the planning committee said the lighting columns were a contrast to the Georgian and Victorian buildings of the Esplanade – but that the historic terraces were ‘robust enough to accept these modern additions, without any harm’.
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