WEALTHY landowner the Meyrick Estate has been urged to pay for repairs to the East Cliff lift in Bournemouth.

The funicular railway, leading from the cliff top to the beach, was severely damaged during a landslip two years ago.

Bournemouth council, which leases the site, has claimed it has no funding to repair it, leading to calls for the landowner Meyrick to fork out to provide access to the beach for residents and visitors, and restore part of the town’s heritage.

The estate owns huge areas of land in Bournemouth, including the cliff at the East Cliff. It is owned by Sir George Meyrick, who has an estimated fortune of £127 million.

Residents have voiced fears that the East Cliff area and the visitors it attracts, are being neglected in favour of huge developments in the town centre catering for younger people, such as BH2 and the proposed Winter Gardens development (below right).

Bournemouth resident Christine O’Grady said her 82-year-old mother was a regular user of the lift and could no longer get to the beach.

She said: “How can we let this happen when there is such a wealthy landowner? My mother used to enjoy a stroll along the beach but she cannot manage the zig zag path.

"I have been talking to visitors to the hotels on the East Cliff and they have said it will make them think twice about returning to Bournemouth.

“The town is going through significant change, some good, some bad, but all the money seems to be going into big entertainment venues in the centre of town.”

Mrs O’Grady said the lift holds fond memories for residents and visitors to the town. She said: “There is a lot of interest in Bournemouth from the older generation. So many visitors have been coming here for years and it would be bad for the hotels if they stopped coming.”

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Ken Mantock, chairman of Bournemouth Civic Society, said: “The Victorians realised they needed as easy route to get to the beach and it is the same today.

“The lift has been there for a long period of time and it has been well-used. The council needs to think as innovatively as it can to get it repaired.”

And Cllr Eddie Coope, the deputy mayor, said: “I have heard that in some quarters they want to get rid of the lift.

“They see it as a loss maker with little value to the council and will use the collapse as an excuse to get rid of it.

“Who knows if this talk of it not being covered by insurance is correct or whether it’s part of some ploy to write-off its future.

“But there must be options for it. There must be local companies who would be willing to come down and have a look and suggest some ideas.

“It might not be the lift as we know it but in my mind we have overcome much tougher geological obstacles than this in the past.

“The lift has so much value to people – particularly those with mobility problems looking to get down the cliff.

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“The number one question I was asked at the Air Festival was ‘when will the lift be back open’.”

Cllr Philip Broadhead, cabinet member for economic growth, said “no stone should be left unturned” to ensure the lift is repaired.

He said: “It may be that we could look into working with others, such as Meyrick Estates. The lift is part of our heritage and is distinctly Bournemouth.”

He said town centre development regenerates the town and provides funds to allow the council to maintain services.

Bournemouth council’s head of operations for tourism, Chris Saunders, said the cliff needed to be stabilised, which would cost “well into seven figures”, before the lift could be repaired.

He said the council’s original plan to carry out repairs by 2019 had been optimistic and he could not give a new target date.