 The £1.9 million regeneration of a Westcountry harbour to help bolster
its position as a regional fishing centre has been completed.
Environmental
planning, engineering and management consultancy Hyder Consulting has
successfully completed the regeneration project in Newlyn harbour,
Cornwall as part of a regeneration scheme to secure the town's position
as a centre for fishing in the South West.
The £1.9 million regeneration of a Westcountry harbour to help bolster
its position as a regional fishing centre has been completed.
Environmental
planning, engineering and management consultancy Hyder Consulting has
successfully completed the regeneration project in Newlyn harbour,
Cornwall as part of a regeneration scheme to secure the town's position
as a centre for fishing in the South West.
The development has
taken seven months to complete, with 80 pontoon berths being developed
to assist the small boat fishing fleet of vessels less than 15m in
length. These berths have added to the existing berthing facilities in
the harbour and have created a safer and more efficient working
environment of the fleet.
Jon Pratten, the project manager at Hyder Consulting, said the pontoon scheme would help safeguard both jobs and lives.
"The
small fishing boats no longer have to compete for space with the larger
boats, which removes the risk of crushing, and the men can now simply
walk off their boats on to the pontoons instead of clambering over
several boats and up ladders," he said.
"The project is expected
to enable the fishing fleet to land and get its catch to market faster
and more efficiently than has been possible to date and also makes it
easier to supply the vessels, increasing the length of time that crews
can stay at sea."
Newlyn harbour is the home of the largest
annual fish catch in England and Wales, and the pontoon moorings have
been developed within the inner harbour at Newlyn, which dates back to
medieval times.
Prior to the construction of the pontoons
fishing boats using Newlyn had to berth side by side, creating a line
of boats that stretched out into the harbour, meaning fishing boat
crews had to traverse a number of boats to make it to dry land. The
arrangement was inconvenient, made loading and unloading vessels
difficult and posed health and safety risks for the fishermen, with the
result that some had started to leave Newlyn for new home ports.
In
addition construction of the pontoons, the project has seen part of the
harbour dredged to improve access. Historical use of the harbour had
contaminated the seabed with Tributyl-tin, which meant that the dredged
material could not be dumped at sea.
In conjunction with
contractor May Gurney, a system of treating the sediments was agreed
with the Environment Agency, which allowed the material to be used at
Sandy Cove to raise flood levels.
The chemical systems used
during the remediation won a Remediation Innovation Award at a ceremony
organised by Brownfield Briefing in London.
The scheme is tied
in with a £10 million plan to redevelop Penzance harbour, the seafront
linking the two harbours and the maritime links with the Isles of
Scilly. It is hoped the total redevelopment will help regenerate the
area, not only for the fishing industry but also for tourism.
Article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS
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