But the Sunday Telegraph story insists the project has been thrown into doubt because of the cuts to BW’s funding by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which slashed £7m off last year’s budget and looks set to cut the same amount this year.

The renovation was unveiled last year. Preparatory work had begun, with major construction set to start later this year. Now BW, while not actually saying it is not going ahead with the project, says its executive team ‘was instructed by its board to work with all of the partners to secure adequate funding to enable delivery of the restoration at a level of financial risk acceptable to the partners’.

BW’s executive team will report back to the board as soon as it has finished its consultation with the project’s partners, although no date has been set for the conclusion of the consultation.