Long-awaited dredging to clear silt and sand at Carmarthenshire’s Burry Port harbour, which is under temporary management, has got under way.
The company leasing the harbour from Carmarthenshire Council went into administration early last summer. Boat owners had been complaining for years about what they claimed was a lack of maintenance, culminating in a petition from campaign group Friends of Burry Port Harbour to the council calling for action.
Dredging diggers are now at the harbour to ensure that berth holders can safely sail out to the Burry Inlet and back.
The council said the harbour was under the temporary management of administrators Azets UK, and that the administration process was continuing.
“The council is working with the administrators to manage a path forward for the future operation of the harbour,” said a spokeswoman for the authority.
Friends of Burry Port Harbour’s chairman, Bob John, said it was a tricky situation but that things seemed to be heading in the right direction. He said: “There is positive evidence of progress.” He added that a barrel post at the harbour’s outer entrance was also going to be repaired.
When it presented its petition to the council in January 2023, the “friends of” group claimed that boats were regularly stuck in the harbour due to an accumulation of silt and sand , and that it had concerns about the condition of pontoons. Council chiefs said they had told leaseholder Burry Port Marina Ltd – a subsidiary of a larger marine company – that it must stick to a management plan without delay. The director of Burry Port Marina Ltd said dredging work would be carried out, while also describing the harbour as challenging and loss-making.
Five months later, in June 2023, cabinet members were told that council officers were liaising with administrators and that the authority wanted a safe, fully-functioning and attractive harbour – the same outcome as that sought by Friends of Burry Port Harbour.
More money gone and not solving the problem.
Waste of time again.
I wonder if the use of the word ” Harbour ” by Cyngor Sir Gâr – Carmarthenshire County Council is an indication of what their future plans are? I recall that many years ago they promoted the Burry Port Marina as the jewel in the crown of the Millennium Coastal Project and how proud Burry Port should be to have the only ” Marina” along the Carmarthenshire coast line. Have they at last given up the idea of a marina with all the facilities needed to make that a viable attraction for local & visiting boat owners or are we going to end up with a harbour that will still dry out at low water as it was in the past?🤬
Roger James still think the main and most pressing question has to be why if a flushing system was devised in the 1990’s that with a small change and fit turbines will clear west dock,east dock,,main harbour,entrance to the harbour,the new sand bank problem and eco friendly and better for the environment.
Just look at the bottom of the photo and it says it all, it is not a marina it is a sespit where all the shit is collected at the expense of the boat owners and the council want to call it a marina.
This must be a hoax that was started by the Carmarthenshire council to rob people that just want to say that they own a boat.
If the boat owners want to throw money away, why don’t they throw it at medical research that will help save lives for the future generations.
🏴🫣😰