A NATIONAL organisation which fights for public access to open spaces has thrown its weight behind the campaign to restore the steps at Castle Cove Beach.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, has written to Matt Prosser, chief executive of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, asking about plans to restore access to the beauty spot.

The footpath down to the beach was closed off after a landslip but authorities have said there is not enough money available to repair the steps and make the area safe.

The Marine and Coastal Access Act of 2009 designated Castle Cove beach as one of the first in the country to be open to public access. The act came into force on 29 June 2012, yet the only footpath to the beach was closed in March 2013, and the beach steps were removed.

Steve Elsworth, of the Friends of Castle Cove Beach, said: “We approached the Open Spaces Society because of their expertise in these issues.

“We were surprised – and gratified – by how concerned they are. It seems that Castle Cove Beach is raising issues of national importance.”

He added: “As Kate Ashbrook points out,  the cost of restoring the steps is £30,000, according to the Council’s own figures. It’s not a huge amount of money to restore a much-loved asset that has been enjoyed by locals and tourists for at least four generations.”

In her letters, Kate Ashbrook wrote: “The closure of the footpath leading to the beach means that this ground-breaking scheme – of giving people statutory access to the beach – has failed in Castle Cove after only nine months’ implementation.”