New harbour chief slams ‘woolly’ resort plans

Bridlington harbour commissioners have appointed Margaret Hyland, who takes over from Harbourmaster Chris Wright, who retired earlier this year, as chief executive and collector of dues.

Government inspector Sian Worden recently approved East Riding Council’s “area action” plan which aims to deliver £200m of investment to redevelop the resort, including a 320-berth Marina.

However she backed objections from the commissioners, by removing the west end of the harbour from the plans for Burlington Parade, meaning it could still be developed, but later on.

Mrs Hyland said the town centre had not made any progress in the decade since the original inquiry into a marina took place.

She said: “The threat of the harbour estate being decimated by the removal of the west end has been taken away, for the moment we are quite secure in that.

“I fully anticipate that the council will come back to us with another revised plan and it will be action stations again.

“Our stance has never changed. We have to protect the harbour estate for our users and we have never been adverse to a marina.

“We haven’t moved on from the initial inquiry...the council hasn’t got a developer.

“The plans were all rather woolly.

“To be honest I think it’s worse because the town centre has become a shadow of itself.

“We can all have architects draw up nice plans, but you have to have the infrastructure in place to get it built.”

Head of Bridlington Renaissance John Lister said Mrs Hyland was entitled to her opinion.

He said £7m had already been spent on transport improvements: “Other infrastructure will be provided as and when we get receipts for the land. We expect things to move as and when we get a planning consent. It’s a plan we are determined to deliver.”