Weymouth harbourmaster's plea for investment (From Dorset Echo)

Weymouth harbourmaster's plea for investment

8:40am Tuesday 16th February 2010 in

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AN UNPRECEDENTED number of empty berths, falling visitor numbers and ‘tired’ facilities are prompting calls for greater investment in Weymouth Harbour.

Captain Peter Mole, Weymouth harbourmaster, believes a revamp of the port is needed to make the most of opportunities being presented by the 2012 sailing events.

He said: “The Olympics will bring more people to the area so our facilities need to be in good shape.

“We want people to leave thinking Weymouth is a place to visit again rather than a place that’s starting to look a bit tired around the edges.”

The municipal harbour, owned by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, generates just under £2million a year – primarily from the Condor Ferries operation, permanent mooring fees and the area leased to Dean & Reddyhoff in the harbour backwater.

But less than half of this income is reinvested into the harbour.

Captain Mole and borough councillor Peter Farrell are concerned that Weymouth is no longer competitive with other ports – including Portland’s new Dean & Reddyhoff marina.

The harbour master said: “The underlying issue that Mr Farrell and I are concerned about is that not all the income that is generated is reinvested into the harbour.

“The money goes elsewhere into Weymouth – it hasn’t been squandered, it helps subsidise people’s council tax – but other harbours we compete with have probably invested a greater proportion of their income than we have.”

The effect is rusty harbour walls, ‘tired’ toilet and shower facilities on Custom House Quay, rickety berths and a ferry terminal in need of refurbishment.

In the coming year, the council is investing an extra £170,000 for remedial work on the inner harbour walls.

Captain Mole said other ‘positives’ included the harbour’s excellent staff, plans for extra toilets to be built in the Westwey Road gatehouse area and a new family shower and toilet on Custom House Quay to double up as disabled facilities.

But he added that greater investment was needed ‘to bring the harbour up to the general standards of ports we compete with’.

Captain Mole grew up in Weymouth and said he was more excited to become the town’s harbour master a year ago than he was in his previous prestigious role on the board of the Port of London Authority. However, he is worried about the ‘unprecedented number of vacant berths’ in the harbour and a 20 per cent drop in visiting boats last summer.

Reasons for this include the ailing economy which caused people to take smaller boats out of the water to store in driveways, boats being sold or moved to cheaper marinas in France, and last summer’s poor weather.

Captain Mole said fewer ‘gin palaces and Sunseeker’ motorboats were visiting Weymouth because of a rise in tax on diesel for boats.

He added: “The trading circumstances are particularly difficult and we’re trying to adapt to that.

“Our goals are to support local business and operators and to attract customers who will visit year after year rather than one-off visitors during the Games.”