LANDSLIPS at Weymouth's Old Castle Road are worse than originally feared, the land owner has said - but plans are being put in place to save it.

As reported, the cliff edge next to the road is slipping down towards Castle Cove Beach below - putting 94 homes at risk of being cut off if the highway collapsed.

Last year residents were relieved when a property developer bought the plot of land with the intention of stabilising it so that new homes could eventually be built at the site.

Planning permission has been granted for three detached houses - and the developer, Jason Craig, also submitted a planning application to carry out extensive stabilisation work.

He has now had to amend those plans because further landslips have happened, and has said the situation is even worse than the original engineer's report stated last year.

Mr Craig explained the situation to councillors at a Weymouth Planning Committee meeting - and said he prefers not to be referred to as a developer because he intends to build a house for himself and his family to live at the site.

"We purchased the site last year knowing that there were some issues structurally," he said.

"We entered into an agreement with Dorset Council to carry out the works to secure the road; subsequently there have been more landslips.

"We carried out additional information gathering and the site is considerably worse than we believed."

Mr Craig said he has employed geotechnical engineers and temporary work has been carried out so that the road can reopen after it was made one-way due to the landslip.

"Now we need to carry out work at the 'toe' - the area where the land meets the beach - to stop it slipping onto the beach," he added. "Unfortunately without securing it we can't secure the road or build the houses."

Resident Keith Tranter spoke in support of the scheme "due to the concerns of losing our road."

"From our point of view Mr Craig has been exemplary all the way through," he said.

Echoing those sentiments, resident Steve Elsworth added: "Over the last few months (Mr Craig) appears to do things by the book and if he says he is going to do something he keeps his word."

Councillor Lucy Hamilton raised concerns about trees being removed, which Jason Craig said he was forced to do, with permission from Dorset Council, as the trees were exacerbating the landslips.

"We will have a replanting scheme to replace them with the correct trees," he said, and also gave assurances that attempts would be made to use building materials that would blend into the background and replant fauna to conceal the support structures that will be put in place.

Councillors voted to submit a comment of no objection to Dorset Council - and Dorset Council will have the final say on whether the proposed stabilisation works can go ahead.