Shotley Pier has undergone emergency building work to remove asbestos found in the buildings at the end of the historic tourist attraction.
The 500-strong community group that owns the pier, the Shotley Heritage Charitable Community Benefit Society Ltd, completed some urgent works by removing of two asbestos concrete roof panels on the fishing sheds at the end of the structure, which was already inaccessible to the public.
Railings along the side of the walkway have also been removed as they were expected to fall in the river.
Chairman John Davitt said: “We needed to urgently remove the asbestos concrete panels as the stormy weather last spring made the sheds vulnerable, one shed was leaning alarmingly by this month.
“We had hoped to include the asbestos removal in our preliminary works, but the delay to planning permission meant we needed to get the repairs done now.”
The East of England Co-op helped pier volunteers locate an asbestos removal company willing to work on a site as difficult to access as Shotley Pier.
The structure previously had many open holes in the decking and high winds made the extraction of the large slabs additionally challenging.
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