A PLEA for government money to help fund the re-opening of Beaminster Tunnel has fallen on deaf ears.

Dorset County Council faces additional costs of around £2.3 million to make the Tunnel safe and re-open the A3066.

It asked the Department for Transport for money but was told by Parliamentary under secretary of state Norman Baker that the council would have to use its own budget to meet the cost, saying it would be unfair on national taxpayers to give additional funds to Dorset.

Dorset County Councillors will be discussing options for repairing the tunnel at their cabinet meeting on November 7.

The tunnel has been closed since July 7 when a landslip killed Rosemary Snell and Michael Rolfe.

Their bodies lay undiscovered for ten days.