Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Keeping Swanage Afloat?


Bob Green asks in this weeks Advertiser "why there is no marina or even a call for it in Swanage"?
Posted by at

29 comments:

Postman2 said...

May I ask if anyone has a copy of "Swanage 2000" I could borrow?

8/11/06 1:19 pm
Anonymous said...

With the way the tides run in Swanage bay. If there is a marina built by the pier, what happens to the sewage from the anchored vessels?

8/11/06 5:25 pm
The Postman said...

It's an old subject (but that's no reason not to revisit it), but can I make a plea for a 'harbour wall' rather than a marina? I know that most people I have discussed this with actually have in mind something that is essentially as simple as a single wall, that would provide valuable shelter for commercial boats as well as visiting yachts. And not something that tears up the entire shoreline to provide parking for a zillion water caravans. What about a wall that swings out to the north and west (ie into the bay) from the Pier? Of course, there's always the question of money ....
Mike Hadley

8/11/06 5:39 pm
Anonymous said...

I wasn't living in Swanage during the great Marina debate, but it was fun to come down and listen to the for and against clubs.
I cant even remember the details - can anyone?

8/11/06 5:41 pm
Anonymous said...

5.25 Presumably the same as when my dog has a crap in the sea each morning, the birds poo and fish crap in it. That’s why a descent pool would be nice. Also notice complete absence of reference to a harbour/marina in cor strategy. You have till the 10th to make your views known!

8/11/06 7:26 pm
Anonymous said...

If we surmise that Wessex Water own the foreshore........there should be no problem raising the money there should there. Bound to be a few "yachties" on their board looking for a mooring.

8/11/06 10:09 pm
Postman2 said...

The questioner is clearly trying to ascertain why there is such apathy to the idea in the Town. Where has all the enthusiasm and confidence of twenty years ago gone?

9/11/06 8:15 am
Anonymous said...

Nick's enthusiasm and confidence of 20 years ago.

Didn't it end up in the House of Lords with the people of Swanage, God bless 'em! voting against it?

9/11/06 9:47 pm
Anonymous said...

I seem to remember it was our then turn-coat mayor who sabotaged it.

10/11/06 8:58 am
Anonymous said...

The account I heard was that it needed a private act of parliament to create a harbour authority, however, when this went before the lords their lordships found that the letters they received were more or lass evenly divided for and against the marina and decided that in those circumstances it would not be right to pass the bill.

The problem, or rather one problem, was that the Act would have given the marina control over the area used by fishermen adjacent to the marina and they were worried that they would be tidied out of existence or would have to pay large amounts for their moorings.

Secondly there is the question of possible ill effects on the beach. Sand does not remain stationary. It moves west to east along the south coast and piles up against any obstruction. Thats why we have groynes. Its also why there is a small beach seaward of the old stone quay but none on the other side. If a harbour wall was built for a marina it could stop sand reaching a stretch of the beach, just as the construction of the banjo jetty resulted in sand being stripped out on its north side while it piled up on the townward side. Risking loosing the beach so a few well off people could keep their boats here did not seem a very good trade to many people in the town.

Whether this would happen has been disputed but presumably it could be tested with a computer model of the bay nowadays. It sounds very plausible to me though.

There is a tale that after the second world war army units stationed here with nothing to do offered to construct a harbour. This was turned down by the council on the grounds that it would lower the tone of the place and encourage vulgar commercial shipping to come here. Perhaps its one of those ideas that turn up anew every so often.

10/11/06 9:50 am
Anonymous said...

Scar mongering again. The Pier has a 600 feet exclusion zone around it already, else any idiot could moor just off it and prevent any other sizable boat approaching to dock. Purbeck mail ’86 regarding Swanage proposed working harbour: “the launching of boats from the public slipway will continue under the control of the town council. Access to the slipway will be protected by the new breakwater which will be provided with a fisherman’s quay and public bunkering facilities”. Did we really not get a working harbour to side with the handful of boats which fish out of Swanage? Don’t you think many boats from elsewhere would have come to enjoy such facilities?
Lost the beach anyway didn’t we? Fisherman complaining the Quay area is silting up!

10/11/06 11:16 am
Postman2 said...

Is it not possible to move on? Let’s provide a breakwater to encourage more fishing boats to base in Swanage and allow local and visiting pleasure boats to have safe haven. RNLI and public slipway all included. Some descent facilities like toilets, showers, ice plant etc. Maybe a small fish market, café and chandlery.

10/11/06 11:22 am
The Postman said...

Sounds good to me! Like all those lovely Cornish fishing villages...

10/11/06 11:30 am
Anonymous said...

I made the decision to move to Swanage some 20 years ago largely on the basis of reading a policy document which had been adopted by the local planning authority: “Swanage 2000” as it was called, recommended, amongst other things, a small working harbour in Swanage. I agree with the questioner Mr.Green in last weeks letters page -where is it? What good another core strategy if Purbeck District Council doesn’t pursue published objectives in the long term, or those involved keep changing their minds? This messes with peoples lives.

10/11/06 1:35 pm
The Postman said...

Just a reminder,today's the last day to tell PDC your comments on the local development plan: email to ldf@purbeck-dc.gov.uk

10/11/06 1:44 pm
Anonymous said...

Not scare mongering, merely telling readers why there was opposition to the marina. Its up to those readers to decided for themselves which of these objections had substance. As I made clear I think subsequent events made clear the vulnerability of the beach to interference with the pattern of longshore drift, however other may conclude that the way half the beach vanished after the banjo jetty was built was the merest coincidence.

Another weakness which has not been touched upon is that the whole scheme was originated by a property company as a way of inflating the price of the housing they intended building by the marina. Once the housing was sold they would have had no interest in the success or failure of the marina. It would have been rather different if an established marina operating company with a good track record had been behind the proposal.

10/11/06 3:56 pm
Anonymous said...

Mr Hammersley has my sympathy - tho' little good that'll do.

Aren't Nick and the Postman making a new proposition?

They've both been here a long time.
Isn't their idea worth considering?

10/11/06 10:59 pm
Anonymous said...

The developer was coming from a finished marina with housing in Christchurch, how can you say not established?

11/11/06 11:38 am
Anonymous said...

If memory serves, didn't Durrant Developments buy the pier in mid late 80's and then go bankrupt?

11/11/06 12:56 pm
Anonymous said...

"The developer was coming from a finished marina with housing in Christchurch, how can you say not established?"

Thats exactly my point. This was a development firm that built marinas as a way of increasing the value of the housing that with it. Once they had finished the development what interest did they have in its continued success? I don't know, I only posed the question. If they are operating a number of successful marinas let us know.

11/11/06 6:08 pm
Anonymous said...

Dear 6:08
whilst I agree with your point please see 12:56.
Cheers.

11/11/06 10:29 pm
Anonymous said...

Durrant went under because the harbour bill had been lost meaning they could not charge a premium for the homes they were building. Their potential assets became less than their liabilities. Whether the shareholders simply formed another comapny I don't know. Bankruptcy is a common enough fate for development companies.

12/11/06 12:39 pm
Anonymous said...

Once it's built it doesn't take much to run a profitable marina. You just need a harbour master and charge everyone £200 a foot per year. Visiting yachts get stung even harder and fishermen pay next to nothing. What’s the problem? Even STC could do it… but hopefully we won’t risk that!

12/11/06 1:51 pm
Anonymous said...

Well, we didn't back in the 80's, so why should we now?

12/11/06 7:23 pm
Anonymous said...

have you read the rest of this thread

12/11/06 8:42 pm
Anonymous said...

I've just read the whole thread and it seems that nick and the postman are suggesting a sea wall and small harbour. To me that sounds good.
Unfortunately, there seems to be one problem, back in the 80's there was a developer who wanted to build a mariner here.
Now there's jusy a bunch of people - me included - who think that a small harbour is a good idea.
So, how do we get it done?

13/11/06 7:12 pm
Anonymous said...

which way does longshore drift go in swanage bay

3/5/08 6:25 pm
Anonymous said...

i think the only reason why local fisherman didnt want a marina is because there would have most probably been a customs/fisheries office, local boat man p.barrett was scrap hunting back then so may have not wanted people to see him bringing back scrap from other peoples wrecks, who knows, i believe the town could benifit from a marina and i hope by 2030 there will be one in swanage.

20/2/09 8:33 pm
Paul Reading said...

The town is mad not to have a marina. Not only would a marina bring lots of money into the town but it is also likely that house prices would increase. If you own a yacht you choices of living near to you boat are quite limited. Pool and Weymouth are OK but really no one want to live in Portsmouth or Southampton, even the Hamble is not a great place to live. Swanage on the other hand would be bliss,

12/2/17 11:49 am

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)