FEARS that the Balmoral cruise ship would be unable to visit Minehead in the summer were allayed this week when West Somerset Council were finally granted a licence to remove the build-up of shingle alongside the harbour’s main pier.

The ship’s operators, White Funnel Line, feared that the shingle bank, some 50 feet long, eight feet high and 20-30 feet across, would prevent the ship with her 23-foot draught mooring alongside the quay for her four scheduled visits in July and August.

Now the council have obtained permission from the Marine Management Organisation, and the work of shifting hundreds of tons of stones to previously-used dumping sites in the bay is due to start on March 20.

It is expected to take five days to remove shingle which has been built up over the past year by high tides and cross-currents.