A COMMUNITY planting project set to take place this weekend has been cancelled.

Local residents had been invited to plant trees on the Rodwell Trail on Saturday to help stabilise the embankment next to the Sailing Club.

The planting day has now been cancelled however in light of the weather forecast.

Tara Gooding, parks supervisor, said: “Due to the rain forecast today and the early hours of tomorrow morning, we have made the decision to cancel the event as the land will be too slippery and any planting will be too dangerous to undertake.”

Since the mid 1980s, there have been a number of landslips along the trail.

In December 2012, a 75m length of the embankment, which supports the Rodwell Trail on Old Castle Road, started showing signs of instability.

Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is working in partnership with Dorset County Council and the Sailing Club to develop and implement a suitable stabilisation scheme.

David Carter, chair of Friends of Rodwell Trail and Sandsfoot Gardens, said: “Ground movement along the trail has made the lower footpath unusable and caused the sailing club boundary fence to distort.

“This movement has not caused the trail to be closed but there is a concern that it may cause problems in the future so the stabilisation works are imperative.”