Concern over maritime plan
BRIDGEND Council has threatened to reclaim the land set out for Porthcawl maritime centre.
Unless the developer confirms it has the funds to deliver the £5.5m project, the authority will terminate the lease for the land.
A COUNCIL has threatened to reclaim the land set out for Porthcawl maritime centre after discovering the developer has encountered various financial problems.
Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) has given developer Credu Charity Ltd until early November to confirm it has the funds to deliver the £5.5m project or it will terminate the lease for the land where the centre is expected to be built.
The council’s chief executive Mark Shephard said: “The directors of Credu Charity Ltd filed a notice of intention in September to appoint administrators for the company and we have now received notification from the Welsh Government that funding has been withdrawn.
“As a result of these circumstances, the council has served notice to Credu Charity Ltd on its use of Eastern Breakwater, and have notified Credu that the lease for the land at Cosy Corner will be terminated on November 6 unless the organisation can meet its conditions of agreement, one of which is confirmation that all funding for the agreed development is in place.”
The plans for the centre, including a coastal science and discovery centre, a cafe, wine bar, roof terrace and micro brewery, were given planning permission in 2018.
It was hoped 120 new jobs would be created.
The maritime centre was previously planned to be funded by £2.1m from the European Regional Development Fund, £1.15m Big Lottery Funding and £600,000 from Visit Wales with additional costs covered by RBS Social and Community Capital and the Development Bank of Wales. But Visit Wales withdrew from the project in August, claiming it was no longer financially viable due to a “significant increase in project costs”.
Chair of Credu Mike Clarke said: “I do not believe for one reason or another that full attention has been given by Visit Wales to the plan submitted which required relatively modest changes and is deliverable. The maritime centre is deliverable within the grant envelope originally agreed with Visit Wales.”
Development on the site recently came to a halt because Credu had not paid contractor Andrew Scott for work carried out since January 2020.
Mark Bowen, the director of Andrew Scott, said the company removed its equipment from the site in Porthcawl and has entered legal proceedings with Credu.
Mr Clarke, who is also an Independent councillor for BCBC and Porthcawl Town Council, said the endangerment of the project is “entirely the responsibility” of the council and Credu’s funds have “become drained” because it took the company four and a half years to secure a lease for the land.
He also said the council made the charity comply with various planning conditions which contributed to the project’s decline. This included redesigning the centre, providing facilities for the Harbourmaster free of charge for 90 years, and paying for repairs to the Eastern Breakwater footpath, which Mr Clarke said “is nothing to do with” Credu.
He added: “Despite costing nearly £450,000 in redesign costs and delays it proved fruitless. Credu returned to its original plans only to be told that the building needs to be reorientated to face differently in the harbour area. Once completed Credu was then told that it had to be moved six feet eastward so that the new connection to the ice cream kiosk could be installed.
“BCBC has insisted on a restriction of 20% of the Maritime Centre being used for commercial benefit with the remaining 80% for charitable purposes – this despite BCBC’s own scrutiny panel recommending it should be 30% so as not to set us up to fail.
“To address this and to ensure that the Maritime Centre was built in Porthcawl, bringing jobs and a much-needed contribution to the local economy, Credu provided Visit Wales on 27th July 2020 with a fully costed and thought through reprofile of the Maritime Centre taking account of cost challenges and the strange times we live in at the moment and importantly bringing new jobs.”
BCBC’s cabinet member for education and regeneration Charles Smith said Mr Clarke’s criticism of the council is a “blatant deflection of responsibility”.
Cllr Smith said: “Throughout its development, the maritime centre project was continually described as being community-driven and entirely independent from the council’s own regeneration plans. Now that it has stalled, we are hearing that the council was somehow responsible after all.”
He added: “You cannot have it both ways. Credu was informed on August 18 that Visit Wales was withdrawing the funding, so why didn’t it approach the council then to see what further support we might have been able to offer?
“Instead of trying to blame someone else, I think the community would be better served if greater accountability was taken on seeking options for recovering from this setback.”
BCBC said it is now exploring the available options for future development on the Cosy Corner site.