Problems persist for £1.32m Lyme Regis seafront project (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

Problems persist for £1.32m Lyme Regis seafront project

10:00am Friday 14th September 2012 in Lyme Regis By Rene Gerryts

A LIFT that does not like sea air is just one of the problems still plaguing the £1.32million Marine Parade Shelters a year after they were opened.

Lyme Regis town councillors are demanding a written report from project co-ordinator David Gale to explain the major problems still facing the flagship development.

Members of the operational management committee meeting were shocked to learn the lift was having electrical problems because it is unable to cope with sea air.

Committee chairman Coun Chris Clipson said: “We do still seem to be suffering with micro switches, which are safety devises on the lift.

“Whenever it is not used very often and there is a sea mist you are likely to get failure on micro switches.”

Coun Terry O’Grady said: “I am absolutely staggered that this wasn’t thought about before the lift was put in.”

Coun George Symonds said the council had paid a great deal of money to consultants and surely this was a problem that should not have arisen. He said: “That lift was always going to be by the sea. If these micro switches are failing then there is a risk that other switches will start failing in due course.”

Coun Clipson said it was easy to declare in hindsight what should have happened but it was important the council did not get into the minutiae of what was wrong.

He said: “We can’t mend it ourselves. Although many of us would like to get our screwdrivers out, we can’t.”

Councillors said Mr Gale had been paid £16,000 to manage the development and they wanted to see a report on problems that still existed. Coun Clipson said: “It would seem there is time by our next meeting to have invited Mr Gale to address us because he was the person historically that the council put in place to supervise the building contract programme.

“He was paid a sum of money for a period of time after the builders left and therefore it is incumbent on us to invite him to come with a report on some of these very important items, particularly the continuing water ingress.

“Decoration in the control room is suffering from damp like all the other parts. There are problems so we have got to pursue it.”

Coun Mark Gage said they needed a written report to help them with the level of detail and complexity of the problems.

Coun Symonds suggested they needed to think about when Mr Gale was going to stop being paid for the work he was doing.

He said: “Otherwise we could go on forever paying Mr Gale.

“The water is still coming in and we are six months down the line.”

Town clerk Mike Lewis said after the meeting that Mr Gale was paid a fixed sum for the job and the council was withholding £30,000 payment until the snagging list was resolved.

Everybody was working towards a date at the end of the month for issues to be resolved, he said.