THE proposed yacht marina in the docks must surely bring to an end the prospect of a shipyard in Falmouth.

After spending a couple of million pounds on creating a marina, what will the docks do when they discover that wealthy owners of shiny yachts do not take up their berths because of shipyard dirt and noise? If nothing else, the smells from adjacent Fal Fish will drive prospective customers away.

They will, for instance, no longer be able to use Duchy and County wharfs for Argus and other RFA refits because of the noise from their engine room and PA systems which can be heard all over the town. The marina will also take out of use one side of the new Queen's jetty, which is the only decent wharf that they have left due to County and Duchy being close to collapse. There will be no berthing space left for ancillary boats such as the tugs and line boats, which are essential to work the docks.

Contrary to their claims that this development will secure the future of the shipyard, it will be impossible for the two to co-exist and it is obviously the intention of A&P to eventually shut down the shipyard and profit from redevelopment for housing, etc, with the loss of several hundred jobs. The marina and much promoted cruise ship business will employ only a tiny fraction of the existing workforce.

It is also hard to understand why we tax payers are expected to foot the bill for the docks dredging. The reason that it will be so expensive is because the whole area has been contaminated by the docks themselves flushing out the dry docks after blasting the anti-fouling from ship's bottoms. Elsewhere in the world there is a very sensible principle that the polluter pays. Now they expect the public to subsidise them because they have identified a more profitable business venture, which they wish to move into.

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