Plymouth landing stage goes private

Could it be used for cruise ships?

An attempt to stop Plymouth City Council handing the Barbican landing stage to a private company has failed after councillors knocked back efforts by members of the Independent Alliance (IA) to halt the move. 

IA leader Nick Kelly, along with Cllrs Chaz Singh and Terri Beer, used a ‘call-in’ procedure to question the decision made at the beginning of this month to surrender the lease of the land to the owners, Cattewater Harbour Commissioners.

The rarely used ‘call-in’ is a way for councillors to ask for a decision, taken by the council’s cabinet, to be looked at again.

Conservative cabinet member for transport and councillor for Budshead, Jonathan Drean, decided to surrender the lease of Barbican landing stage and return it to Cattewater, saying it lost almost £10,000 a year.

The landing stage is valued at £441,469.

However, Cllrs Kelly, Beer and Singh claimed the process was deficient because not all potential users were consulted and Cllr Drean did not consider alternatives strategies to increase usage and public access to coastal waters. 

Cllr Kelly, who represents Compton, said the council should be considering the status of Plymouth as the ‘Ocean City’ and encouraging cruise ship participation.  

“I feel very strongly the Barbican landing stage – with designated cruise ship embarkation and disembarkation for ships that moor out in the sand – could generate income far in excess of that shortfall,” he said.

He added the decision would mean the council would lose control and added: “It’s the loss of an asset that could create a revenue, if used correctly. And I’m sure that Cattewater will be looking at it to generate a profit.  Why can’t Plymouth City Council do that for its people?” 

Councillor for Drake, Chaz Singh, urged members of the growth and infrastructure, overview and scrutiny committee to reject Cllr Drean’s decision. 

Cllr Singh said: “I think a lot more could have been done – should have been done – but it hasn’t been done.  And as a committee it is now down to you to then try and convince members of the public that you’ve made a decision where this city has lost an asset but also lost revenue.”

Building on arguments by Cllrs Kelly and Singh, councillor for Plympton Erle, Terri Beer, said: “This is an opportunity here that we can draw in an income from something that would be very profitable, that would promote our city as Britain’s ocean city, and make us a world leader. 

Other councillors on the committee quizzed the IA members on their move to have the decision reconsidered but the vote was lost.

Plymouth Independent Alliance Group

Cattewater says it has already developed plans that would see investment to offer more opportunities for water-based business to operate out of the site. These would include angling trips and snorkeling trips to dive boats.  

In a statement, Captain Richard Allan, harbour master and CEO of the Cattewater Harbour Commissioners (CHC) said: “We are really pleased that after so long the decision on the Barbican landing stage has now been ratified. We have plans for significant investment in the facility, and this decision by Plymouth City Council allows us to unlock that funding. 

“We have worked up, fully costed designs in place which we can now progress that will look to extend the pontoons and open it up to a wider range of users.” 

Cattewater Harbour Commissioners are almost 150 years old and work with local businesses and organisations across the city to support projects such as the swim buoys, seagrass, swim pontoons and annual fireworks championship, as well as the statutory duties which keep the Cattewater Harbour open for business, facilitating over two million tonnes of cargo, with a value of over £1.4 billion being imported and exported in and out of Plymouth.