Visited Weston-super-Mare today and took some video footage of the Birnbeck Pier and island. The pier is unusual in that it provides (well, provided) a pedestrian link to a natural island.
The pier itself is in a very poor state of repair, as are most of the buildings on the island. The exception appears to be the RNLI boathouse which, externally at least, appears intact. The pier has been closed to the public on safety grounds since 1994.
North Somerset Council has for some time been trying to pursue a compulsory purchase order for the pier and island, since the current owners have failed to restore/repair/protect it. It has recently been announced that a sale to the Council has been agreed and plans are now being made involving the Council, RNLI, English Heritage and others to repair and safeguard the structure. Seeing the state of repair first hand, I can only believe that it will take years (perhaps decades) and cost millions to achieve.
Meanwhile, lifeboats are currently launched via tractor from the beach at Knightstone, around 0.5 miles SE of the pier. The RNLI states that a return to launching from Birnbeck will allow them to launch more reliably at lower states of tide. The tidal range in the Bristol Channel is notoriously large and the beach at Knigtstone has shifting patches of soft mud, which presumably complicate launches and recovery from there.
