Councillors have endorsed a report from the Weymouth harbour master – which said that more work needs to be done to keep Weymouth Harbour solvent for the future.

The report updated members on how the harbour has been performing, particularly financially, and it called for the development of a long term plan to ensure the harbour continues to make money

Weymouth Harbour has faced financial difficulties since it lost the business of Condor Ferries to Poole back in 2015.

The ferry service was the harbour’s major source of income, raking in up to £750,000 towards the harbour’s budget each year.

In response, efficiency savings were made and in both of the last two years the Weymouth Harbour budget achieved a surplus.

But in the report, harbour master Keith Howorth said “there is still a long journey” to go to make sure the harbour’s budget remains balanced in the long term.

To help with this, an independent firm of consultants, Fisher Associates, have been tasked to help put a long-term strategy together.

Mr Howorth’s report also said that the matter of who runs the harbour in future should be reviewed.

Presenting the report to Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s management committee, new chairman of the Weymouth Harbour management board Cllr Ian Bruce was upbeat about the harbour’s prospects.

He said: “We are already running it at a profit and there are lots of areas we can work on to improve that situation.”

He added: “I am sure the harbour is not sinking. In fact it is being raised up.”

After the meeting, Cllr Bruce said he was trying to make clear that changes have been made to “ensure we are a viable going concern” and said the harbour board would be reporting back “as and when we need decisions from the management committee.”

He added: “We will be getting a report from Fisher Associates to see if any step changes need to be made about what we will be doing to go from break even to earning money for all the things we need to do in the borough generally.”

The committee unanimously approved Mr Howorth’s report, which recommended not only that there be a long term plan for the harbour and that its ownership be reviewed, but that the current drive to make savings needs to be maintained and that grants and any financial support need to be looked into.