THE Dawlish weir gates have been replaced to stop the town’s family of cygnets escaping.

Dawlish Town Council has brought in a contractor to fix the gates which are under the road near the viaduct.

When just a few days old, the cygnets were washed through a small gap in the fencing.

They were rescued by BAM Nuttall workers who were part of the engineering team working on the Dawlish railway project. 

They had put up a temporary repair using old walkway panelling.

Now the gates have been permanently replaced.

Dawlish waterfowl warden said: ‘The weir gates are now fixed and hopefully preventing the cygnets from taking a sea adventure.

‘This was carried out by a contractor working for Dawlish Town Council.’