Council and RNLI agree to jointly fund £165,000 Whitby Fish Pier repairs ‘to avoid legal dispute’

The council has approved the allocation of £82,500 to fund “immediate, essential remedial works” to the Fish Pier in Whitby.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), which opened a station at the site in 1919, will fund half of the £165,000 scheme as continued deterioration of the pier could create a situation where the structure and vessels are damaged.

While the RNLI and the council “dispute responsibility for the sheet piled structure arrangement” which requires repairs, both parties have agreed to split costs “with a view to avoiding a protracted legal dispute”.

Sheet piled protection along the south elevation of the pier has moved outwards due to a number of factors, including “loss of thickness of pile section over time and therefore stiffness and probably the failure of horizontal restraint”.

The movement of the sheet piling puts the masonry pier at risk of collapse, according to a council report, which states that it is “essential that these works are undertaken without delay”.

Allocation of the funding was approved on Friday, March 31, by Scarborough Council’s cabinet member for corporate resources, Cllr Janet Jefferson.

In order to stabilise the pier and stop the movement, the authority is proposing to introduce a “vertical piled solution by way of driving a number of steel piles to a design depth immediately in front of the existing piling”.

Movement monitoring will continue until they are in place along with checks and measurements after the works have been completed.

However, RNLI operations will still be able to function while the works take place and vessels and associated equipment is set to be temporarily relocated to an alternative area within the harbour.

According to the council report, meetings have taken place between council officers and the RNLI and have concluded that the works should be carried out “as soon as possible and consider them to be imperative, essential and requiring urgent attention”.

The Grade II listed structure has provided a defensive barrier for waves between the structure and moored vessels and is acknowledged as “critical to supporting the ongoing viability of the RNLI operations at Whitby Harbour”

In 2007 the Council and the RNLI entered into a new lease agreement for a term of 50 years of the recently constructed Shore Facility and Berthing Facility at Fish Pier.