Dunno if the delay was down to them or not, but the process sounds horribly familiar....

"The trust had repeatedly warned that while the arguing over funding and planning permission dragged on, the pier was in imminent danger of collapse, despite sporadic emergency repairs.
Last winter the combination of gales and extremely high tides fulfilled their predictions, ripping the pier to shreds."

Takk talk talk, temporary repair, talk talk talk, Bang!