Hope for new RNLI base in Weston-super-Mare

After a long search the RNLI says it has found a location for a new lifeboat station in Weston-super-Mare.

For the last year it has been based in a temporary station after it was forced to leave its historic home on Birnbeck Pier. The service now wants to build a new station on Madeira Cove but the RNLI may need to raise up to £4 million for it.

You can watch Robert Murphy's report below:

The RNLI has confirmed it has stopped launching its lifeboats from Birnbeck pier in Weston-super-Mare. The charity has said the Victorian structure is simply too dangerous.

It was closed to the public in 1992 but the RNLI has continued launching. Lifeboat crews have been based on the pier for more than a hundred and thirty years. Robert Murphy reports.

After 131 years based on Birnbeck island, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is leaving the island due to the deteriorating condition of Birnbeck Per and the buildings on the island. The immediate plan will be to establish temporary facilities for an inshore lifeboat in the town.

The decision to move off the island has been taken by the RNLI’s Operations Director, George Rawlinson who says his priority is the safety of the charity’s volunteer crew. The predominant worry is access for the crew to the quarter of a mile long pier, which continues to deteriorate,

The charity is initially planning to operate a second D class inshore lifeboat from Knightstone Harbour.

The existing D class and Atlantic lifeboats based on Birnbeck will, in the short term, only launch from the island if there is a known risk to life which cannot be covered by the boat from Knightstone.

There's a fresh warning tonight that Weston-super-Mare's historic Birnbeck Pier is on the verge of being lost for good if something isn't done soon.

The pier has been closed to the public for more than 20 years, but is still used by the RNLI as a base.

So now, the lifeboat crew is looking at potential options for a new home.

John Bevir has the story:

There has been a fresh call for action to restore the historic Birnbeck pier in Weston-super-Mare. The listed structure is in danger of collapse following years of neglect.

A developer is in the early stages of drawing up a new set of plans. Now the heritage minister has hinted that lottery money might also be available.

Charles McCann from the Friends of the Old Pier Society, told us about the desperate state of Clevedon Pier and the need for urgent action.

Michael Ross, of property developers CNM Estates, says plans are afoot to repair the dilapidated Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare - even if the project doesn't receive lottery funding:

UK culture minister Ed Vaizey says government money is available to improve heritage sites such as the crumbling Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare:

The dilapidated Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare is in the shadow of the recently improved Grand Pier:

Campaigners fighting to save Birnbeck Pier in Weston-super-Mare have issued a fresh warning that it's in danger of collapse.

The town's MP, John Penrose, says lottery money could be used to fund its redevelopment: