Funds sought after collapse of maritime centre project
A COUNCIL is trying to secure funds to restore land in Porthcawl where a multi- million- pound maritime centre was supposed to be built.
Bridgend County Borough Council (BCBC) is seeking money from Visit Wales to return land known the Cosy Corner to a safe state after a failed £5m development left the site incomplete.
Council leader Huw David said: “It is a location that is loved by people across Porthcawl and across the county borough. We want people to use it in a free way.”
According to the council, possible options for the site include: A children’s play area Outdoor performance space with seating
Facilities for local groups such as the Sea Cadets
Space for small businesses/start-ups
St orage/ changing facilities for people using Porthcawl Marina.
During a meeting held on Tuesday December 15, the council’s cabinet agreed to submit an application to Visit Wales for funding.
The council’s corporate director for communities Janine Nightingale said the site is “currently unsafe to use” and the land “cannot remain in its current condition for any length of time”.
“We’re going to need, unfortunately, significant resource and action to do something to this,” she added.
In August 2019, BCBC granted Credu Charity Ltd a lease to build a £5.5m maritime centre on the Cosy Corner. Plans for the development included a coastal science and discovery centre, a cafe, wine bar, roof terrace and micro brewery.
In November this year, the council reclaimed the land from Credu for the after the charity failed to confirm it had the funds to proceed with the development.
Construction had already begun on the site but came to a halt in February this year because Credu had not paid contractor Andrew Scott for work that began in January 2020. The company removed its equipment from the site in Porthcawl and entered legal proceedings with Credu, according to its director Mark Bowen.
A council report states the site is currently unsafe as there are “partially laid foundations and a range of materials left on it”.
BCBC is considering the removal of such items but it does not have the funds to restore the land to a safe condition because it was not previously responsible for the land. The council is therefore seeking money from Visit Wales to help them with the issue.
Funding is availabe from Visit Wales but it will be far less than the amount required for a project as large as the maritime centre Any money from Visit Wales would also need to be spent by March 2022, a time frame much shorter than that given for the maritime centre.
So far, discussions between the council and Visit Wales have indicated £1,538,461 funding could be available, with the council being required to match fudning of £538,461. If this were to take place, the council could pay for this through a land value match and from its communities directorate public realm fund.
The council’s cabinet member for education and regeneration Councillor Charles Smith said the Cosy Corner land “is an iconic part of the South Wales coast and it’s due to become even more iconic in the future with regeneration going alongside it”.
“It would have been wonderful to have had a community interest group developing that inconic site. It would have been a very unusual and innovate thing for Porthcawl to have had.
“For reasons which I’m not going to go into Credu have not delivered. I don’t want to go into reasons for that at all.
“All I want to say is that the council were fully supportive of Credu from day one and our support is minuted and it’s transparent.
“Our commitment is there on record. Now we have to put a plan in place to restore Cosy Corner and then look at its future viability as a useful place for public realm.
“There might have to be some commercial enterprise there to help finance the grand funding but as a cabinet I think we can promsie that the major use of Cosy Corner will always be public realm there’s no way that it’ll be privatised.
“I think we’ve got a very good start here with this report.”
Council deputy leader Hywel Jenkins said he was “very disappointed” that Credu was unable to “deliver their dream”.
“I’m totally satisfied that the council offered every assistance possible to make that a success and I think it’s important we say that.
“This has been ongoing for a great number of years and an awful amount of officer time and support has been put into this development. It’s very sad really that it’s come to this.”
He added the council’s decision to apply for funds from Visit Wales “is the right thing to do”.
“I’m sure that something will come out of this that will be equally iconic and serve the residents of Porthcawl just as well.”
Credu Charity Ltd emerged out of the Porthcawl Harbourside community interest company in February 2018 and has delivered services under different subsidiaries including education programmes for schools and tourist information.
The council gave Credu Charity Ltd a three-year lease for part of the land in November 2017 to set up portacabin showers, toilets, and storage shipping containers for local groups.
It then granted the charity a license to install hoardings and set up a temporary compound in November 2019. During this time, a lease agreement stated Credu could carry out fully construction works on the site as once various conditions had been met, such as fudning and planning.
Credu failed to meet the conditions and so BCBC reclaimed the site from the charity in November 2020.
Credu had previously acquired funds to build the centre from the European Regional Development Fund (£2.1m), Big Lottery Funding (£1.15m) and Visit Wales (£600,000). Additional costs were going to be covered by RBS Social and Community Capital and the Development Bank of Wales.
In August this year, Visit Wales withdrew from the project claiming it was no longer financially viable due to a “significant increase in project costs”.
In October 2020, the council discovered Credu had filed notice of intention to appoint Menzies LLP as administrators of the company, a decision agreed by the charity’s directors in September 2020.
Credu later moved into liquidation in November 2020 and the liquidator disclaimed any interest in the Cosy Corner site.
According to a report by council officers, BCBC “undertook significant due diligence to ensure lease arrangements were in place to control delivery and ownership of the site”.
The report also states the council undertook “a full risk assessment” of the site before granting a lease for the land to Credu Charity Ltd.