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The future of Newlyn's £7 million fish market has been left in doubt after the owner of the South West's largest fishing fleet declared it would not be entering in to business with the new operator.
In a letter addressed to Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commissioner(NPHC), W Stevenson and Sons stated that, despite always being in favour of the improvements to facilities, the company had not and would not be entering in to any partnership or business relationship with any other market operator: The company believes that the current proposal, which includes a new market hall, an auction theatre and a meeting room, is not financially viable or affordable for the catching sector to use or the NPHC to fund and maintain.
The NPHC has already secured planning permission for the market and funding is expected to be met via three separate pots: £2 million from the harbour commissioners and the remaining £5 million is expected to be met by the European Fisheries Fund and the European Regional Development Fund.
However, according to W Stevenson and Sons' calculations, if the NPHC is to borrow £2 million to plug the funding gap, the cost of borrowing can only be passed on to harbour users, including the Stevenson's.
Not affordable
"All of our calculations indicated that to use the new fish market is going to have to cost more than it cost now," said Elizabeth Stevenson, company partner.
"So we believe it's not going to be affordable and we haven't been given any indication on how much it's actually going to cost despite asking to see the figures for three-and-a-half-years."
"Despite rejecting the plans for the harbour as they currently stand, W Stevenson and Sons maintained it had always been in favour of improvement to the facilities for the building, storage and selling of the fish in the harbour - providing they were affordable.
"As one of the major stakeholders, W Stevenson and Sons believes that the current proposal for building the new market is not viable and has regrettably decided is sees no scope for putting its fish and agency fish on the new fish market should it be built because it will be cost prohibitive" Mrs Stevenson said.
Alternatives
"No newly-appointed market operator will sell any fish from W Stevenson ad Sons and we maintain we have the right to sell our fish and any other fish from any other agency vessels wishing them to do so."
The company said alternative arrangement are in place should the NPHC prevent W Stevenson and Sons from carrying out its right on the current Newlyn market site.
The announcement comes just days before the harbour commissioners are to decide on the new operator of the market.
Five firms have been interviewed and the decision is expected to be reached later this week.
Chief Executive Paul Trebilcock of the Cornish Fish Producer's Organisation, representing the fishermen, said W Stevenson and Sons' decision to pull out threw a question mark over the project viability.
"The company represents more than 50% fish sold in the Newlyn market and it is a major revenue generator," he said.
"The firm does have to be involved and for a project of this size to go ahead it needs to sell its fish on the market."
Newlyn harbourmaster Andrew Munson confirmed the harbour commission would 'consider' W Stevenson and Sons' letter at its next meeting.
The date of the meeting had not been fixed by the time The Cornishman went to print.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN
THE CORNISHMAN COMMENT
It's sad that the long-awaited plans to regenerate Newlyn fish market have hit a major stumbling block this week.
The future of the £7 million development has been put in doubt after the port's largest fleet, W Stevenson and Sons, declared its position regarding the future plans for the harbour and fish market.
The company has for years raised concerns about the plans but it's the first time that Stevensons, which represents 50 percent of the fish landed in the harbour, has gone to the record in writing to correct rumours circulating around their position on the market.
The letter circulated amongst buyers, vessels, skippers and local politicians hardly come as a surprise to the commissioners who are driving the project the project forward but it certainly could find the harbour working party struggling to make further progress with the project without the Stevensons on board.
Stevensons and other harbour users have for years demanded the Commission put the true running costs figures on the table before progressing any further with the proposed plans.
So perhaps it's time for transparency and an open discussion to ensure that all the key players are on board and working together to safeguard Newlyn's future as one of the leading fishing ports in the UK.
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