Reopening date for ferry still to be confirmed

Two months on, a reopening date for the West Lynn ferry has still to be confirmed.The service was temporarily closed to passengers in mid-January for safety reasons after contractors undertaking routine maintenance work on one of the landings discovered a “significant structural issue”.West Norfolk Council and Norfolk County Council, which are sharing responsibility for the repairs, warned it would be several weeks before it is up and running again.

Now in mid-March, the borough council remains unable to confirm an exact completion date.The authority is currently exploring funding options for safety ‘courses’ which the ferry has to complete before it can reopen.This information comes after Cllr Alexandra Kemp claimed the authority refused to fork out for the first ‘survival’ course, leading to her paying for it out of her councillor allowance. A borough council spokesperson said: “Officers are in regular contact with the operator about reopening the West Lynn Ferry.“The operator was made aware of a number of actions which need to be completed for the safe reopening of the ferry at a meeting in February. “At that meeting, we had asked the operator to let us know the costs that they may incur as we are exploring funding options to support these expenses, including working with officers within the council who have knowledge of, and access to, grant funding to support local businesses.“The invoice that Cllr Kemp has paid was not sent to the council before the councillor paid for it.”The spokesperson added: “Officers have continued to work with engineers and contractors to seek to understand the magnitude of the works required. “Public safety remains the top priority in everything we do and we’d like to again thank people for their ongoing patience and understanding while this work continues to be prioritised.”Longer-term solutions are being explored to protect against future ferry failures.It represents an important link for people living in West Lynn and has been running for 800 years.