A £45,000 project to refurbish a pedestrian crossing near the former council offices in Weymouth gets underway today.

Five weeks of work by Dorset County Council is taking place to ‘enhance’ the crossing on North Quay.

The work is being carried out at the same time as a gas project in Westwey Road with temporary lights switched on this Wednesday. But DCC says the crossing work shouldn’t delay drivers as all work is on the pavement.

Dorset Echo:

Concerns have been raised however that work is going ahead at the crossing before it is known what is happening with the former offices of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council.

The council was due to complete the sale of the site to developer Acorn South, but the firm – which intends to convert the offices into new apartments – ‘declined’ to purchase it by the agreed date at the end of July, as per the contract.

A behind closed doors special meeting of the management committee was held last week to hear an update on the matter. The council has declined to make a public statement on this update.

Meanwhile, Graham Perry, who is involved with opening a new Fair Trade shop on North Quay, said: “Dorset County Council is about to spend five weeks – and presumably a lot of money – refurbishing the pedestrian crossing on North Quay. Given that the current crossing seems to be working perfectly well and nobody has any idea what the final development on North Quay will be, this seems a ridiculous waste of money.

“This is again terribly bad news for businesses which are already struggling with the closure of the council car parks on North Quay.”

Simon Butler, Dorset County Council highway improvements project team manager, said: “We’re replacing these lights as part of our ongoing maintenance work to renew equipment coming to the end of its working life – the lights, control equipment, poles, underground cables and tactile paving will all be replaced, and up-to-date vehicle and pedestrian detection devices will be added.

“The work is all within the footway and there shouldn’t be any additional delays to drivers. There will be a temporary crossing available for the duration of the work, which will operate on demand just like the existing crossing.”

Responding to concerns about the council offices redevelopment, Mr Butler said: “We don’t know how long it will be before the borough council office site is redeveloped, and to ensure the safety and reliability of the crossing we need to upgrade it now.”