Lake to shut for sluice gate repairs

WESTON-super-Mare Marine Lake is to close for the fourth time this year – for continued work on its sluice gates.

The lake will close from 8am today. It will be drained and be closed to enable further work on the sluice gates. It is hoped it will re-open on November 23.

A North Somerset Council spokesman said: “The lake will temporarily close to enable further planned work to take place on the two new sluice gates. The tidal lake will be drained and will close for at least nine days.

“This work has been planned to take advantage of a long period of low tides, which will provide maximum time for the work to be carried out. It will reopen once the tide is high enough to overtop the lake.”

The lake has been subject to a number of closures since the start of the year. It was originally drained in March to dredge 30,000 tonnes of silt and carry out repairs.

It re-opened to the public in

June but was closed again in September for new sluice gates to be installed. It re-opened in October only to be closed again after water levels dropped. The lake was once again drained and the sluice gates inspected.

The ongoing work is part of North Somerset Council’s Great Lakes Project. More than £300,000 has been spent on the lake, which opened in the 1920s, to bring it back into use as an outdoor swimming and water sports destination.