'No money' to reinstate landslip Bournemouth cliff lift

A council says it has no funds to reinstate an Edwardian cliff railway which has been sealed off since a landslip more than two years ago.

Carriages and a toilet block on Bournemouth seafront were damaged by the cliff fall in April 2016.

Bournemouth Echo reported that work to restore the lift had now been delayed indefinitely.

But Bournemouth council tourism boss Chris Saunders said it remained its ambition to reinstate the lift.

Rubble fell down the 30m-high (100ft) rock face in East Cliff alongside the funicular railway early on 24 April 2016.

Last year Bournemouth Borough Council said the lift and toilets would not reopen for another two years, but it now says it can not afford the "significant" cost of stabilising the cliff.

A section of the cliff fell away in the early hours of 24 April 2016

Mr Saunders, head of tourism services, said: "Ever since the cliff fall in 2016 it has been the council's ambition to reinstate the cliff lift and associated facilities as quickly and efficiently as possible, and this ambition remains.

"The cost to stabilise the cliff face is the biggest hurdle to achieving reinstatement and is estimated to be significant.

"The council currently has no means of directly funding this work and continues to look for grants and sustainable commercial investment to help solve the problem."

East Cliff Lift, an Edwardian funicular railway, was damaged during the slip