Laura Bagshaw A LOCAL historian has said Great Yarmouth's Jetty should be saved and restored after the borough council made an application to demolish part of the structure.

Laura Bagshaw

A LOCAL historian has said Great Yarmouth's Jetty should be saved and restored after the borough council made an application to demolish part of the structure.

Colin Tooke said the 450-year-old jetty was a key attraction in the town's heritage and represented Yarmouth's first outer harbour.

It follows a second planning application made by the borough council to demolish part of the jetty as it continues to examine ways of saving the structure.

The jetty has been off-limits to the public since October last year after a health and safety inspection revealed the structure was unsafe.

However, Mr Tooke believes the council should do everything in its power to save the jetty. He said: “I, along with a lot of other people, think it should be preserved.

“The jetty acted like an outer harbour because it was where all the goods were unloaded from ships. It has been restored many times in the past so I can't see any reason why they can't restore it again.”

Several pairs of famous feet have walked the wooden boards of the jetty including Nelson, who landed there in 1801, and wounded soldiers from the battle of Camperdown also landed there.

Mr Tooke added: “The mackerel and herring fishing centred around the jetty so it had an important commercial past but just because that has gone its no excuse to pull it down.”

Tim Howard, head of regeneration and environment at the borough council, said restoring the jetty was the ultimate goal of the council's but it was all dependent on cost.

The council's budget for repairing and restoring the jetty is around �90,000.

Mr Howard said: “Restoration depends on the cost. We have a fixed amount of money to deal with the jetty and we are trying to make that money go as far as possible.

“We do not want to take the platform away but we might not be in a position of choice. We cannot leave it because it's a health and safety issue and the planning application for demolition is being made just in case we need it.

“It is the council's intention to save it.”