Dorset Council decide to back artificial reef ship plan

The plan is to sink a ship off Kimmeridge to revive diving

A bid to sink an old warship off the Dorset coast to create an artificial diving reef has been back by Dorset County Council cabinet members.

Community group Weymouth and Portland Wreck to Reef plan to sink a ship off Ringstead Bay. It could generate up to £1.2m for the local economy each year.

A Castle Class Falklands patrol ship would be sunk one mile (1.6km) south of Kimmeridge bay by October 2011.

The next part of the project is to seek a licence for the wreck from Defra.

'Economy boost'

Weymouth and Portland Wreck to Reef, a non-profit community group, plan to lease an area of sea bed from the Crown Estate, but the estate can only sign a contract with a statutory body such as a local authority.

The council had previously turned the project down as it considered diving on a wreck to be a high-risk activity and was concerned about liability in the event of accidents.

But the authority now thinks these risks can be mitigated by a requirement on its arrangement with the reef organisation.

Weymouth and Portland Wreck to Reef said the Crown Estate and the county council had made "a raft of compromises about negotiating about taking the lease on," following a meeting last September.

The group believes the wreck would re-energise the struggling diving industry in Dorset and help boost the local economy.