URGENT action is needed to support Weymouth Harbour in the wake of Condor Ferries leaving, a report says.

It comes as it is revealed Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s Harbour Board will have to plunder reserves to the tune of more than £640,000 to help balance the budget for the coming year.

This includes a one-off contribution of £300,000 to reduce the impact of the loss of revenue from Condor, plus a further £343,000 from reserves.

Using reserves to help balance the books is ‘unsustainable’ and the Board needs to ‘urgently address’ this position in future, a report to today’s borough council’s management committee says.

Reserves will not be available after 2015/16 to make up any budget shortfall.

Condor operations will cease from March 24 which will significantly impact on the income from the harbour, reducing it by around £750,000.

The company is switching operations to Poole as it launches a new and larger fast-ferry on cross-Channel crossings.

Condor wanted to operate it from Weymouth but the borough council can’t afford to make improvements to accommodate the vessel.

It is understood that attempts to secure another ferry operator have proved unsuccessful. The council will now look to progress with its town centre masterplan and redevelopment of the Pavilion peninsula.

Council finance spokesman Cllr Colin Huckle said: “To raid the reserves is not sustainable and we need to revisit this situation and make some decisions so significant inroads are made in closing the gap next year. It’s going to be a challenge.”

Cllr Huckle said the council was looking to a future without Condor or another ferry operator, and that ‘significant development opportunities’ were opening up.

“It gives us the scope to make positive decisions on the masterplan in the knowledge we don’t have a ferry any longer,” he added.

The council report says the way ahead for the harbour is ‘far from clear’ and will require some key decisions.

This includes doing something with the ‘restricted area’ around the ferry terminal as well as the terminal buildings and associated facilities.

The future of equipment like the linkspan and luggage carousel must also be considered.

It costs more than £23,000 a month to run the restricted area and port facilities including employee and energy costs and these must be considered.

Measures have already been taken to reduce the impact of the loss of Condor revenue including not going ahead with replacing the Westwey Road pontoon and deferring other pontoon replacements, reducing the marketing budget and making some savings in training and equipment supplies.

Possible income sources to be investigated include providing a berth for ‘laid up’ Condor vessels, increasing fees paid by Condor for its last few months of operation for the amount of passengers and cars which travel on the boats, an increase in Weymouth Sailing Club rent (as part of its lease review) and leasing out the lower floor of the ferry terminal building for the short term.

Five-year business plan drawn up

THE harbour is a key service of the borough council and the harbour budget is managed by the Harbour Board, set up in 2007, within parameters set by the council.

In a bid to put the harbour on a more sustainable footing, a five-year business plan was drawn up for the harbour and adopted last year.

The management committee will also consider at its meeting the role of the Harbour Board and its makeup.

A review of current arrangements has been carried out to check they are ‘fit for purpose’. Options open to the council are to continue with it, add further independent members – or manage the harbour through the management committee and abolish the Harbour Board.

The management committee will also approve proposed changes to harbour fees and charges for the coming year.

Charges for leisure harbour users are set to remain unchanged but charges for commercial vessels will increase by three per cent.