The regeneration game: £23m set to

Dorset Council will plough £23million into regenerating Weymouth’s waterside after being awarded £19.5million by the government.

The council’s successful funding bid focuses on funding repairs and infrastructure upgrades to harbour walls at the Peninsula and North Quay to ‘allow proposals from private investors for new residential, commercial and leisure to be invited’. The funding may also allow the council to speed up its plans to demolish the former borough council offices at North Quay, freeing up a prime piece of waterside real estate for development.

In its funding bid, Dorset Council said the ‘business case’ for harbour wall repairs is based on ‘bringing work forward by 10 years, so redevelopment can happen sooner’. The council also plans to purchase ‘long leasehold interests’ in the town, as it previously has with the Weymouth Bowl, to ‘help generate fresh development opportunities and regain management of the land the council already owns’.

Dorset Council submitted its funding bid in the second round of the government’s Levelling Up Fund last summer with the aim of ‘regenerating Weymouth’s waterfront economy’. The authority says it will support the government’s investment of £19.5million by contributing £3.5million towards the overall project costs, bringing the total investment package up to £23million.

A council spokesperson added: “Dorset Council officers have met with civil servants from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to discuss the next steps and agree a rough timescale.

“Projections suggest the council and government will be in a position to agree a contract for delivery of the projects in the spring.”

Dorset Council’s Portfolio Holder for Property, Assets and Regeneration, Cllr Tony Ferrari, said: “To be successful in this