A section of a north-east harbour which crumbled into the sea at the weekend had been scheduled for inspection by dive teams next week.
A length of pier at Banff Marina has been closed off to the public since Friday night when a corner of the quay collapsed near pleasure boats.
Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place at about 10pm, but the local authority now faces a bill to bring the historic harbour back into use.
Local councillor John Cox has estimated that the work “will not come cheap”.
The local authority had been due to inspect a crack in the pier next week, following concerns expressed by local boat owners. It is believed it had been visible for about a month before it collapsed.
The council’s head of roads, Philip McKay, has now conformed a full inspection of the pier will be undertaken.
He said: “The end of one of the internal piers at Banff Harbour collapsed on Friday night.
“I immediately authorised a notice to mariners that closes the harbour until we could get a proper look at it.
“Aberdeenshire Council had been monitoring a crack on this pier and a dive inspection was due to be carried out in the next week or so.
“We will carefully consider what action to take following a proper inspection of the pier.”
Mr Cox added: “I think we’re just fortunate that no one was hurt and no boats were damaged.
“It will need structural engineers to look at it, but it’s a historic harbour, and one of the suggestions I’ll be making is to carry out a full survey of the harbour and see if there’s any funding we can access for work.
“What will be required will not come cheap.”
The 76-berth marina at Banff was opened in April 2007, but the harbour has been an ever-present feature of the town since 1625 – when rocks were originally cleared from the coastline to open up a haven for vessels.
Boats still fish out of the port on a small scale almost 400 years later.
