The cost of works to re-roof seafront buildings is coming up at almost double the council’s budget.

Works need to be carried out on the roof of the shelters building on Marine Parade in Lyme Regis due to water ingress from the flat roof to the units below, and that almost no significant maintenance had been carried out on the building since it was built in the 1960s.

A budget of £400,000 was set by Lyme Regis Town Council for 2019/20 to repair and enhancement to the area, which included new feature railings and glass panelling, additional lighting and new power and water supply points.

It was reported at a recent extraordinary meeting of the town council that two tenders were received back, the lowest of which was almost double the approved budget.

Mark Green, deputy town clerk, said: “There is one thing I want to stress above anything else - there is no cheap option to do this.

“We’ve had two tenders back already which were disappointing, they were significantly over budget, but having spoken to various roofing professionals, it’s unrealistic to think we can do basic re-roofing work, with any work necessary to go with that, for any sum of money significantly less than we have allocated.

“It would be completely wrong of me to say there was an option that sorts out the roof problem for £50,000, £100,000 or £200,000 because I don’t believe that to be the case.

“The buildings are our third most valuable assets - they produce a rent of almost £110,000 a year. I think it is absolutely right that we do invest a reasonable amount of money to protect that investment for the future.”

Mayor of Lyme Regis, Cllr Brian Larcombe MBE, said: “I am alarmed at the fact that, in spite of the professional advice we were given at outset, the budget started at £150,000, went to £250,000, then £400,000 and now we’re up to £800,000. I just don’t understand how professional advice can get us that far out.”

Cllr Larcombe added that the council should work out what they wanted to use the roof area for so that they could decide the level of work to go for.

Mr Green suggested a reduced specification of work - which included recovering the roof and ensuring it was waterproof - and choosing from a ‘menu’ of optional extras, such as new railings.

Cllr Larcombe said: “I propose we do allow Mark to go out with that reduced specification in an itemised way so that we can see the cost of each element and we can be informed by how much it costs to do that.”