CLEVEDON’S Marine Lake will be drained this weekend to allow its leaking sea wall to be assessed by engineers.

The seafront attraction will remain empty until higher tides are expected to refill it between March 11-13.

A detailed marine engineering assessment will be carried out following a successful bid made to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) last year to help fund repairs to the sea wall.

The bid was made by North Somerset and Clevedon town councils along with Clevedon Civic Society and the Marine Lake voluntary group, MARLENS.

The first round application gave North Somerset Council a £40,000 grant to carry out a detailed evaluation of the wall and to develop a comprehensive business plan for the project.

A grant of £350,000 will be sought from the HLF at the next stage of the process.

This will be used to carry out the repairs to the sea wall and to develop educational activities to teach people about the history of the lake.

The assessment work can only be carried out by draining the lake and MARLENS members will also take advantage of this to carry out other essential maintenance work including dredging the lake and removing litter.

Cllr Peter Bryant, executive member responsible for parks and open spaces, said: “We apologise for the inconvenience draining the lake might cause but it is essential for us to carry out a detailed survey of the wall, which is impossible when the lake is full.”