RNLI submits second planning application for Birnbeck Pier project

This application runs concurrently with the planning application for the repair and restoration of the Grade II* Listed Birnbeck Pier, submitted on 23 September. If both applications are granted, access to the island will be restored allowing the RNLI to re-establish its lifesaving operations from Birnbeck Island. This is the safest and most effective location in Weston from which to launch lifeboats at all states of tide.

Permission is being sought by Studio Four Architects, the RNLI’s appointed architect, to:

· construct a new RNLI lifeboat station on Birnbeck Island

· widen and regrade the concrete launch ramp to the north of the island

· repair the exterior of the Grade II Listed 1902 former lifeboat station and slipway.

Since the unsafe state of the pier forced the RNLI to leave Birnbeck Island in 2014, the volunteer lifeboat crew have operated from a temporary base on the plaza next to Marine Lake.

If planning is approved, the proposed new lifeboat station would be partly built within the pavilion ruin. The scheme utilises the existing walls and openings and is designed to reflect the original pavilion building in a contemporary way.

The layout has been designed in consultation with local volunteer crew and will accommodate both of Weston’s current B and D class lifeboats, launch vehicles and trailers, changing room, crew welfare room, training room, office, and mechanic’s workshop as well as storage. It will also encompass a visitor engagement space, showcasing the contemporary RNLI.

Andy Wright, RNLI Area Operations Manager for Weston-super-Mare, said:

‘If planning is granted, a new lifeboat station on Birnbeck Island would provide the volunteer lifeboat crew with the modern, fit for purpose facilities they need to save lives at sea.

This application runs alongside our first application which seeks to repair and restore Birnbeck Pier, which would provide access to the island. These two applications run concurrently to ensure the RNLI’s ambition to re-establish lifesaving operations from Birnbeck Island, the safest and most effective location from which to launch the lifeboats at all states of the tide. If granted, and once funding is in place to deliver the rest of the project, the RNLI will launch a fundraising appeal for the new station.’

Councillor Mark Canniford, North Somerset Council's executive member responsible for the Birnbeck Pier project, said: ‘This month marks the 160^th anniversary of the official start of the original Birnbeck Pier project. Not only a beautiful and much-loved structure, it’s important to remember that our special pier and island also played a significant role in saving the lives of those living and visiting Weston-super-Mare for more than 130 years. It’s therefore very fitting that this latest planning application – for the RNLI to create a new, modern and fit-for-purpose lifeboat station on Birnbeck Island – has been submitted this month.

‘Our recent invitation from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to submit a bid for £10m, the highest amount they can award in a single application, shows a continued high level of interest in the project at a national level. We have a long way to go but each milestone is a step forward in the right direction for the delivery of the project, which will be of benefit to the local area and local people.’

The whole project – to restore Birnbeck Pier and Island – has been made possible thanks to funding from the RNLI, UK government (formerly called the Levelling Up Fund), National Heritage Memorial Fund, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.

North Somerset Council was recently invited by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to submit a fast-frack bid for an additional £10m. If approved, and the planning application submitted on behalf of the RNLI last month (September 2024) is granted, this money would go towards the restoration of Birnbeck Pier. The National Lottery Heritage Fund is expected to make an announcement by the end of October.

To find out more about the Birnbeck Pier project, visit the information hub next to the pier or the council’s website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/birnbeckpierproject.

Required site investigations and surveys mean people might have seen contractors and people in safety clothing on the island, however for safety reasons it is essential that these visits are done in a carefully managed and coordinated way. It is an extremely dangerous site, and members of the public should keep away. Birnbeck Pier was closed to the public in 1994 due to safety concerns and has continued to deteriorate. People are urged not to attempt to walk out to the island at low tide or to cross the pier.

Notes to Editors:

· The Planning and Listed Building application numbers are 24/P/2010/FUL for the planning application and 24/P/2011/LBC for the listed building consent application They can both be accessed on the council’s website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/planning There people can find more information on the proposals, including detailed drawings.

· The planning application is separate but runs concurrently alongside the application submitted on 23 September on behalf of the RNLI for the repair and restoration of Birnbeck Pier. Planning and Listed Building application numbers for this application are 24/P/1907/FUL and 24/P/1908/LBC and can be accessed on the council’s website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/planning.

· The planning application is separate to planning application reference 24/P/0679/R3 submitted in April by Haverstock, North Somerset Council’s appointed architect practice. That application, to restore and regenerate the landside buildings, convert the 1888 boathouse and stabilise the landside structures, was approved in August (www.n-somerset.gov.uk/news/planning-application-granted-first-phase-birnbeck-pier-project).

· North Somerset Council purchased Birnbeck Pier and Island in July 2023 thanks to £400k funding from the RNLI. The purchase means North Somerset Council and the RNLI can start work jointly on the restoration of Birnbeck Pier and Island. North Somerset Council and the RNLI would like to thank all partners, funders and supporters who are making this project possible. This includes the UK government for providing £4.4m; National Heritage Memorial Fund for providing £3.55m of emergency funding from the UK government Cultural Assets Fund (CAF) to help strengthen the pier legs and create an interim walkway onto the island; The National Lottery Heritage Fund for supporting with an initial grant of £234,761 to enable plans to progress for a full grant application of £4.2m at a later date and Historic England for contributing £1m to the restoration works. North Somerset Council is working closely with Birnbeck Regeneration Trust who it is planned will manage the site in a staged process once restoration works are complete, starting with the opening of the restored Pier Master’s Cottage.

· The current anticipated Birnbeck Pier project timeline:

Ø Autumn/winter 2024 to summer/autumn 2025 – repair and renovation work to the landside buildings.

Ø Spring/summer 2025 to spring/summer 2026 – pier deck construction and repair work to strengthen the pier.

Ø Summer 2025 to summer/autumn 2026 – building work to create a new RNLI lifeboat station and visitor centre.

Ø Spring/summer 2026 to autumn/winter 2026 – further work to the enhance the pier deck, repair the island sea wall, stabilise the pavilion and install interpretation boards and visitor information.

About the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates over 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 142,700 lives. A Lifeboat station in Weston as this point in the Bristol Channel, is a key lifesaving asset. Since 2000, the volunteer crew at Weston have launched 1,064 times, aided 572 people and saved 85 people’s lives. The RNLI were forced to leave Birnbeck in 2014 after the pier was deemed too dangerous. After many years of investigation of over 20 alternative sites in and around Weston, Birnbeck Island offers the charity the safest and most effective place for the volunteer RNLI crew to launch and recover their lifeboats. It is the only place that the volunteers can safely provide a lifesaving service for the town at all stages of tide.

About the UK Government

In January 2023, North Somerset Council announced that Weston-super-Mare would benefit from £20m investment thanks to a successful bid to the UK government (formerly called the Levelling Up Fund).

More information can be found in the news release distributed at the time www.n-somerset.gov.uk/news/council-wins-cash-boost-weston and on the council’s website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/improvingweston.

About the National Heritage Memorial Fund

The National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was set up in 1980 to save the most outstanding parts of our national heritage, in memory of those who have given their lives for the UK. NHMF receives annual grant-in-aid of £5million from the UK government to help save some of our most-loved treasures such as paintings, natural heritage, maritime and industrial vessels, and historic houses, from being lost forever. Any funds remaining from NHMF’s annual allocation at the end of the financial year remain available to NHMF to award grants to exceptional heritage treasures such as the Portrait of Mai (Omai), The Artist Rooms, Titian’s Diana and Acteon, the Honresfield Library, Tyntesfield Estate and Wentworth Woodhouse. www.nhmf.org.uk @NationalHeritageMemorialFund #NationalHeritageMemorialFund

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

National Lottery Heritage Fund grant applications over £250,000 are assessed in two rounds. Birnbeck Pier has initially been granted round one development funding of £234,761 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans. Detailed proposals are then considered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund at second round, where a final decision is made on the full funding award of £4,290,442. As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Over the next ten years, the Heritage Fund aims to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to bring about benefits for people, places and the natural environment. The Heritage Fund helps protect, transform and share the things from the past that people care about, from popular museums and historic places, our natural environment and fragile species, to the languages and cultural traditions that celebrate who we are. The Heritage Fund is passionate about heritage and committed to driving innovation and collaboration to make a positive difference to people’s lives today, while leaving a lasting legacy for future generations to enjoy. Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLotteryHeritageFund www.heritagefund.org.uk.

About Historic England

We are Historic England: the public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England’s spectacular historic environment, from beaches and battlefields to parks and pie shops. We protect, champion and save the places that define who we are and where we’ve come from as a nation. We care passionately about the stories they tell, the ideas they represent and the people who live, work and play among them. Working with communities and specialists we share our passion, knowledge and skills to inspire interest, care and conservation, so everyone can keep enjoying and looking after the history that surrounds us all. Find out more about how the historic environment can help our wellbeing. 

About Birnbeck Regeneration Trust

The Birnbeck Regeneration Trust is a charity established in 2004 with the objective to preserve the natural, historical, architectural and constructional heritage of Birnbeck Pier, Island and surrounding local area for the benefit of the people of Weston-super-Mare and the nation. Aligned with the Friends of the Old Pier Society, the Trust engaged with various previous owners to facilitate Birnbeck's restoration and return it to its former splendour. A renewed collective effort has revitalized the Trust since North Somerset Council took ownership in 2023. Once the project is complete, the aim is for the Trust to manage the site on behalf of North Somerset Council, as the freeholder, and in conjunction with the RNLI as the pier’s other tenant.

About North Somerset Council

North Somerset Council is a unitary authority located in the south west of England. Birnbeck Pier is located in Weston-super-Mare, one of four towns in North Somerset. There are four piers in North Somerset, of which Birnbeck Pier is one of three in Weston-super-Mare. It is also one of only six Grade II* Listed piers in England and the only one to link to an island in the UK. There are four further Grade II structures and buildings located on the island and the landward end of the site. The pier was designed by Eugenius Birch, the noted Victorian engineer. Construction took place between 1862 and 1867, with the foundation stone laid in 1864. It opened to the public in 1866 and closed in 1994 for safety reasons. For more information about the project visit www.n-somerset.gov.uk/birnbeckpierproject. You can also find out more about the wider placemaking plans for Weston-super-Mare at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/placemaking.