SOMERSET West and Taunton Council has agreed to borrow over £1 million to pay for repairs to Watchet Harbour’s storm-damaged wall after hearing that no funding has yet been made available from Government sources.

At its first ’virtual’ meeting last Monday, the council agreed on a £900,000 capital programme supplementary budget funding, plus £106,000 from the general reserve, to pay for repairs to two serious breaches of the harbour wall in December and January which threatened the safety of the marina and parts of the town.

The council’s localities manager Chris Hall, who was praised for masterminding the emergency repairs, said that appeals for funding from the Government, Hinkley Point C, the Environment Agency and Somerset Rivers Authority had so far been unsuccessful.

“In terms of wider funding opportunities, these have not been available to us to date as they are either not appropriate uses of these funds in the case of the Rivers Authority or Hinkley Community Impact Mitigation Fund, or unlikely to meet the criteria for funding from the Environment Agency’s Flood Defence Fund.”

Mr Hall added: “We have yet to receive any further information on the availability of central government support and as a result, have had to gain council approval to borrow money to compete the scheme.”

Cllr Marcus Kravis, executive member for economic development, said the repairs were “a job which needed doing sooner rather than later”. Tourism was vital to Watchet and the marina was to central attracting tourists: “The wall is our asset and we have to repair it,” he said.

Mr Hall said this week that while onsite activity had been paused by the coronavirus crisis, preparatory work had continued and designs were complete for the breach at Splash Point and initial options for a low wall to the east which is an important factor in the integrity of the repairs.

“The solution involves re-jointing and concrete injection and will allow us to refurbish the existing beach access steps rather than replace them elsewhere.

“The council accepts the importance of the scheme and therefore the necessity to borrow money to see it through to its completion.”

Mr Hall said he had met the scheme’s contractors, “and with the money now agreed, I have commissioned the work.

“We are working with them to establish a programme of delivery which we will share as soon as we are able. The current condition of the wall is considered stable at present but clearly incomplete, so we maintain that this is an emergency and are working with the designers and contractors to complete this as soon as possible.”

Councillors were told that while the council was responsible for the outer sea wall, the inner marina was the responsibility of the leaseholder, Watchet Harbour Marina Ltd, which had been issued with a notice to allow the council to begin forfeiture proceedings if the lease had been breached.

Repair notices had been issued to the marina company requiring it to dredge the harbour and repair the lock gate but it was claimed that the work had not yet been done.