THIS is Yarmouth's newly restored jetty - the name of each generous benefactor lovingly inscribed on the wooden planks. But it is not our Great Yarmouth, rather our Isle of Wight namesake where residents have found a way of saving their structure.

THIS is Yarmouth's newly restored jetty - the name of each generous benefactor lovingly inscribed on the wooden planks.

But it is not our Great Yarmouth, rather our Isle of Wight namesake where residents have found a way of saving their structure.

Acle man Brian Grint supplied the picture and wonders if this is the way forward for our own beleaguered boardwalk which barely reaches the sea and is threatened with an even shorter future.

Meanwhile an “over to you” message has been handed to any fundraising or lobby groups here that might be born from the battle to save the end platform of Great Yarmouth's jetty.

Tim Howard, head of regeneration at Great Yarmouth Borough Council said something needed to be done, and quickly, before the bad weather set in and that what had started out as a straightforward saga had become “prolonged.”

He said surveyors were looking again at the structure to see if they could come up with a solution to make the boardwalk safe and please the development control committee which last month put off a decision to knock the platform down.

Meanwhile if members of the public opposed to the scheme wanted to channel their resistance into a public appeal they were welcome to do so, he added.

Since the demolition plan was revealed earlier this year public opposition has been growing, citing the historic significance of the jetty and its predecessors going back 400 years.

Mr Howard said: “We have about �88,000 which is nowhere near enough to fully restore it, which would cost around �350,000. We are not going to launch a public appeal but there are a lot of interested folks who might want to. My primary concern is that we have got a structure that is partly unsafe which is why an application was made in the first place.

“What was a fairly straightforward matter is now quite prolonged. The idea that the structure itself has any merit is one that needs to be knocked on the head. It was built in 1961. The issue is about the symbolism of one being on the site for a long time.

“What we have to do is find what solution the planning committee will find acceptable. We need to get something done before the bad weather sets in. It will be for those people who want to see something done to put their foot forward.”

One suggestion, he added, was to demolish the end platform and launch an appeal to extend it so it actually jutted out over the sea.