PLANS to build a £500,000 sea angling jetty at West Bay have been thrown a lifeline by the district council.

Campaigners say the promise of technical, engineering and officer help is a major breakthrough which could save the project from sinking.

They say the offer came at a meeting of West Dorset's ad hoc committee when members reconsidered plans for West Bay's £1.25 million regeneration scheme.

The project - with limited support for the jetty - had been approved by the Tory-controlled council's executive committee last month.

But 11 Liberal Democrats - two more than the minimum required - signed a motion forcing the plans to be called in' and reconsidered by the ad hoc committee.

Although they supported the recommendations, the Lib Dem campaigners believe they still won some important concessions on the jetty.

Their spokeswoman Ros Kayes said: "We didn't expect for the decisions to go back to the executive because the majority of the ad hoc committee was Conservative. But we won through on one of our objectives.

"The council's chief executive, David Clarke, said that WDDC was prepared to make a commitment to offer technical, engineering and officer support if Bridport Town Council undertook the management of the project and was setting up a project management group in which this would play a part.

Explicit "That was more explicit than we'd expected and represents a considerable move on their part for which we are very grateful.

"We wanted an offer in the public domain and I think we managed to convince them that there were worries that the project wouldn't go ahead at all if we in Bridport were left to do it all on our own."

Coun Kayes and fellow Lib Dem Karl Wallace had also called on the district council to reallocate the £150,000 it is no longer spending on the Mound development at West Bay to the sea angling jetty fund.

Along with the £100,000 it has already promised and money from other sources, this would put nearly £300,000 in the pot and make it a viable project, they claimed.

Continued Coun Kayes: "They weren't prepared to commit to that at this stage but I think there is increased goodwill on this from their side and that if there is money available once it has been put out to tender they will seriously consider putting it towards the jetty. Detailed figures for the entire regeneration project are now being drawn up.

"Overall I am pleased with the result. They listened to us and debated the issue seriously and we have got part of what we went for. That's a positive outcome when we expected nothing and it shows that with a bit of a push, co-operation is possible."