There’s a huge irony in Weymouth council’s decision to go ahead with its controversial plans for the harbour peninsular redevelopment at a cost of £1m more than it would have cost to improve the ferry terminal to take the new larger Condor ferries.
Spending £10m on the port would have brought in a guaranteed £750,000 a year in fees but was deemed to big a risk for Weymouth council – now they’re spending £11m on a leisure development scheme!
The peninsular development is not going to bring in as much money as improving the port – and unlike a ferry terminal, it’s not going to bring thousands of people through the town, spending on other things.
You can almost hear the Poole Harbour Commissioners sighing with relief – they took a risk when they adapted their port for a more expensive and less environmentally friendly route than the crossing from Weymouth, but it paid off. Weymouth lost out because it didn’t have the vision, while Poole invested to secure a less viable route and succeeded.
ALASTAIR NISBET
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