22 Jun Colne Marina development set to bring raft of employment, economic and green benefits to Brightlingsea
A NEW Colne Marina development, first approved for planning in 1976, is set to bring new job opportunities to the town, as well as clean up and reinvigorate Brightlingsea creek. The Morgan Marine project will see 25 additional moorings added, with the existing 90 moorings re-formatted and improved, creating a fresh, new and visually appealing waterfront. It will boost the local economy with 10 new job roles and promises to attract new visitors to the town, boosting retail and hospitality outlets, and engineering opportunities to local businesses.
In line with its promise to incorporate best environmental practices in the project, Morgan Marine has already spent £40,000 on removing wrecks of old vessels that have accumulated in the area in the past twelve months, which threatened to harm the local habitat. The project will also see the installation of the Blackwater Estuary’s first ever Sea Bin designed to collect plastic waste, including micro plastics, and other floating rubbish. This has the potential to be upgraded to filter out any petroleum-based surface contamination too.
The marina design abuts the main channel in the Brightlingsea creek, leaving plenty of space for vessels to pass by and access yards further upstream. Morgan Marine’s plans incorporate a specially designed bunded pit that separates waste for specialist waste processing and appropriate disposal, which is thought to be the first of its kind for a leisure maria and is fully endorsed by the Royal Yachting Association and British Marine.
Graham Miller, Managing Director at Morgan Marine, said: “The Colne Marina has been a long time in the making and it’s extremely exciting to see it finally coming to fruition. It will totally transform the look of the creek for the better, clean up the environment and bring an influx of new visitors to the town, which can only benefit everyone. It’s important to us to give people immediate access to consult with us on the project as it will have a hugely positive impact on Brightlingsea and the environment.”
“We are also looking to showcase some of the exciting plans at a public engagement event, which will take place during June or early July, a date for which is due to be set very soon.”
Nicola Wren, a Brightlingsea resident, said: “This is really positive and exciting news for the town. We so often see housing applications passed for large estates but never see companies wanting to invest in our tourism infrastructure that the town so dearly thrives on. My parents were landlord/landlady for 10 years of a very well-known popular pub in the town and I subsequently worked there for the entire time. Having worked there for this length of time I’ve seen the importance of tourism to the town. It’s of paramount importance that we keep the Brightlingsea boating fraternity in the town rather than them wanting to migrate annually to the larger marinas which provide facilities that Brightlingsea currently does not have. Having spoken to many visiting yachtsmen during my time working at my mother’s pub, I’ve always heard of a need for more accessible pontoons for visiting boaters, the only walk-on pontoons currently are the handful in waterside Marina which aren’t fully accessible and is very restrictive for larger boats. Brightlingsea is very reliant on the seasonal tourism that it currently has, the income produced over these months often gives the business the backing to stay open through the difficult winter months that many businesses often experience.”
More information about the Colne Marina project can be found here: https://morganmarine.com/colne-marina-the-project-and-faqs and any questions regarding the project and the public consultation should be emailed to [email protected].
