WORK could start on improvements to the Lyme Regis harbour office in September – and should be finished by next Easter.

West Dorset councillors have agreed the spending of around half a million pounds on the improvement works.

The harbour master’s office has not been in use since a critical Health and Safety inspection of the building which resulted in the district council being served with a contravention notice in November 2015 for unsanitary kitchen facilities; no space for rest and eating meals and no suitable accommodation for changing. At the time £200,000 was put into the budget to make improvements, but an extra £325,000 has now been added, mainly because of rising costs.

The council has also incurred additional costs in renting a temporary office and appointing a designer and quantity surveyor.

The authority has also since decided to ‘future proof’ the new office with the proposed two storey building having an additional meeting room, a gantry to observe the surrounding coastline and air conditioning. Additional costs are also likely because of the type of foundations needed for the new building, which is alongside The Cobb.

A sum of £62,000 is also being added to the project as a contingency sum in the event of delays because of the weather, or other, unexpected problems.

Cllr Mary Penfold told Tuesday’s district council strategy committee that councillors had no option but to approve the works and the extra finance.

“This office is extremely busy, obviously the work needs to be done, and it should be completed by the spring season.”

Designs for the new building work were recommended for approval at the council’s planning committee.

The original building was put up by the RNLI in 1997 with agreement that the district council would take space for the harbour master’s team. The new building will include a gantry and balcony for watching the surrounding coastline for which the RNLI will contribute more than half the costs of that section, an estimated £12,000.

In a report to councillors the harbour master says that over the next five years there is likely to be a growth of over 15% in visiting craft, a 10% increase in existing mooring holders spending nights on the pontoon and a 5% increase in the use of general harbour facilities including the slipway.

Councillors were told that if the contingency sums were not needed and the RNLI helped towards the cost of the viewing deck £73,900 of the money set aside could be unspent at the end of the project.