THE man behind plans to sink a wreck off the Dorset coast insists the move will not be scuppered by a legal wrangle over liability.

Wreck to Reef (W2R) want to sink a ship in Ringstead Bay as an attraction for divers, but their enterprise – which they claim could bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds to the local economy – has hit a stumbling block.

The Crown Estate, which is responsible for the seabed, says it will only grant a lease for the project to a statutory body, but Dorset County Council is concerned about liabilities it would incur if it were to take on the lease on behalf of W2R.

The council’s director for corporate resources Elaine Taylor told cabinet members that the council had consulted legal experts and had received ‘very strong cautionary advice’ over the liabilities it would face if the authority was to take out the lease.

She said: “There is an acknowledgement that the project to create a dive experience on the sea bed off Ringstead, while bringing exciting opportunities to the county from an economic point of view, also brings the prospect of significant risks about managing the site.”

Mrs Taylor said the council should discuss this legal advice with the team behind W2R before making a final decision. However, she added: “The view is that we cannot mitigate against the risks.”

Council leader Angus Campbell also suggested that council involvement was unlikely if the Crown Estate maintained its current position with regards to liability. He said: “It seems to me to be such a shame that something that is done elsewhere, which would enhance the coast, cannot be done because of this issue.”

Members will discuss the plans with the W2R team before making a decision at the next cabinet meeting on June 2.

Project co-ordinator for W2R Neville Copperthwaite said the issue over liability was ‘frustrating’ but insisted that they would find a resolution.

He said: “We are definitely still optimistic, there are too many people backing us for it not to go ahead.”

Mr Copperthwaite added: “There has never been a successful action to sue a leaseholder of artificial reefs, not just in Britain but anywhere in the world.

“Although the legal advice says diving is a risky business, we all know it’s a risky business and in reality there is a minimum risk to the leaseholder. Diving is an inherently dangerous and when people enter into it they take that risk themselves.

“W2R would have been happy to take the lease on, we didn’t want to have to go to the county council, but we didn’t have a choice – the Crown Estate insisted.”

Mr Copperthwaite said an economic impact survey estimated that his project could bring in £1.6million to the economy every year.

A spokesman for the Crown Estate said: “It is not in The Crown Estate’s interest (nor anyone else’s) to stifle any project which might be good for the local economy.

“Although we were uncomfortable with the long term liabilities and risks involved in such a project, we have expressed a willingness to provide the council with a lease for the site if they wished to develop it.”