- The restoration of the historic Grade II* listed Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare has been saved by new funding.
- The National Lottery Heritage Fund provided an additional £5.5m, bringing its total contribution to £15m, after the project faced a major funding gap.
- The funding gap emerged when the RNLI withdrew from the project, which councillors stated had put the pier's restoration in "jeopardy".
- Birnbeck Pier, unique for linking the mainland to an island, has been on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register since 1998, having closed to the public in 1994.
- Work on restoring the pier's bridge structure is scheduled to begin by the end of 2025 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
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