During the past decade the UK’s marina industry has largely been developed as a means of enhancing waterside residential property. But, with the slump in the residential market, this is beginning to change. Kevin Brown reports.
By the year 2000 more than 3.5m people in Britain will be participating in boating. This increase of more than 1m, forecast by Leisure Consultants, is expected to generate an extra 80,000 boats in coastal waters during this period.
Currently, the major concentration of pleasure craft in coastal waters is in the South of England: Southampton to King’s Lynn accounts for 65%; Bristol to Poole 20%. Among the other regions, 6% are based in Scotland, 4% in the North of England, 3% in Wales and 2% in the Channel Islands.
The British Ports Federation estimates that 150,000 craft over 6.5m are moored in coastal waters and industry statistics indicate that this figure is increasing by approximately 5,000 per year. All the available evidence suggests that demand for marina berths will increasingly outstrip supply over the next decade because boating remains a facility-led activity.
During the 1970s, marina developments grew in response to the shortage of available water space for traditional moorings and the increasing expectations for quality facilities from discerning boat users. The 1980s saw further marina projects in association with substantial residential development such as Hythe Marina, near Southampton.
The financial difficulties faced by leading waterside property-based companies have been well documented already this year and strong doubts exist over the ability of the market to increase the supply of conventional deep-water moorings in pace with rising demand. Now the question remains whether the demand for new marina facilities can be met in isolation without cross subsidy from the development profits generated by associated schemes.
Finding a suitable marina site is problematic, but is further compounded by the fact that most easily developed estuaries and inlets around the UK are already utilised for commercial, military or leisure use. The sector is characterised by very high infrastructure development costs, such as quay walls, access roads, drainage and dredging. British waters present a large tidal range, often demanding an impounding structure which serves to exaggerate these costs.
The Conwy Marina development in North Wales is a good example. Although developer Camper & Nicholsons and joint-venture partner the Crown Estate were able to utilise an existing basin, an additional £2.5m was spent on slope protection of the basins to prevent erosion and avoid flooding, while a further £100,000 was spent on hydraulic studies and subsequent monitoring. These costs have been incurred in advance of those associated with site services.
Similarly, Sovereign Harbour near Eastbourne, currently the largest marina development in the UK, not only needs to meet the high costs of new sea walls and a lock but also has a commitment to carry out long-term environmental monitoring for pollution emissions and changes to the sea bed and coastal foreshore.
The environmental is becoming an increasingly important factor. On the West Coast of the USA virtually all marina development has been curtailed because of the strength of opposition on environmental grounds. In Los Angeles main harbour even maintenance dredging works have all but ceased because of difficulties with soil disposal.
Growth of environmental concerns in the UK has led to the establishment and extension of designated areas such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, (AONBs), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Heritage Coastline. This will limit the ability for proposed new development to receive planning permission on virgin sites. Even if the necessary permissions are granted, environmental protection work can add significantly to overall development costs.
The main consequences of the problems highlighted signify that either the marina project is unviable and does not proceed, or that the project goes ahead but relies on increased berth rents.
So, where do future opportunities lie? The proposed privatisation of many British ports, the diminution of the UK fishing industry, the rationalisation of the Royal Naval Docks and the declining heavy industries based around many UK coastal towns has led to a major reduction in the use of traditional ports in the UK.
These influences provide an extensive water-related resource capable of meeting future marine requirements of leisure users in many parts of the UK. Location within a prime sailing area and/or close to major centres of population will, however, remain an important factor affecting viability.
Although there are unlikely to be any further developments of completely unprotected sites (such as Brighton) for the foreseeable future, opportunities clearly exist for the imaginative use of redundant harbour facilities (such as Southampton, Folkestone and Hartlepool), recreational barrage schemes (Cardiff Bay) and back excavation into redundant land (Eastbourne).
Deep-water marina berthing within existing docks, and where quay walls and basic services are in place, may, in the right location, prove viable for small- or medium-scale operations. Fleetwood Harbour in the North West, owned and operated by Associated British Ports, was converted for leisure use in the late 1980s and has steadily extended its berthing facilities over the past three years, now accommodating more than 150 boats. Following this success a 70-acre mixed-use development is proposed.
Brunel Quay Marina in Neyland, South Wales, has transformed a declining landscape, creating 420 fully serviced berths with the aid of EC and enterprise zone funding. This has boosted the local community greatly, creating a total of 60 full-time jobs (directly and indirectly), and the council has subsequently negotiated a deal for a 60-unit residential development on a strip of land overlooking the harbour, which would have been inconceivable prior to the marina opening in 1985.
For new marina-related schemes it is unlikely that the leisure element alone can justify capital expenditure. But major opportunities exist where public-sector financial allocation for waterside infrastructure can act as a catalyst to encourage private-sector investment.
Following the example of Baltimore in the US, a number of development corporations set up in economically fragile areas have been successful in generating marina-led projects, constructing the necessary infrastructure, clearing up former derelict shorelines and creating an attractive environment to encourage further investment in a mix of industrial, office, retail, residential and leisure uses. It is interesting that, in this way, residential development can take place as a result of a marina project rather than form the essential element enabling the project to proceed in the first instance.
Marina projects on the Continent have, in many cases, been fully funded by public expenditure as part of a long-term strategy to encourage tourism and leisure. Public subsidy allows marina operators the flexibility to charge competitive berth rents which a private-sector investment could rarely justify.
In the absence of Government grant funding, the most effective form of public subsidy has been via development corporation enterprise zones or similar structures. Cardiff Bay is the largest such project, where a £450m programme to prepare land and create infrastructure and environmental works is under way. Overall, more than £350m of development is completed at such sites as Penarth Haven, Atlantic Wharf and Pengam Green. The total 20-year regeneration strategy over an area of 2,700 acres could generate investment of up to £2bn, with a private/public sector ratio of at least 4:1.
Other urban waterside developments include: Albert Dock, Liverpool; Swansea Maritime Quarter; Hull Marina; and Teesside Development Corporation’s ambitious plans in Hartlepool.
And finally, not forgetting the boat users, public-sector pump priming can make a significant contribution towards meeting the shortfall in the supply of berths. Considering the important role that a marina can play in underpinning a successful mixed scheme, boat users should be given the facilities which they demand.
