By Julie Waters
SAVE Kircubbin Harbour campaigners have been given new hope after the council agreed to enter into negotiations with the historic landmark’s owners.
Local councillors are set to make fresh efforts to bring the owner of Kircubbin’s historic harbour ‘to the table’ in a bid to save the local landmark from collapsing into the sea.
The harbour has continued to deteriorate in recent years, largely caused by storm damage, with fears high it could be lost forever if pricy restoration action is not taken.
At a recent meeting of Ards and North Down Council’s Place and Prosperity Committee, councillors tasked local authority officers with contacting the harbour owner, through their legal representatives, in a bid to establish the pier’s ‘ownership status’.
There had been speculation that the harbour owner had offered the harbour to Ards and North Down Council for a ‘nominal consideration’; however, it has not been confirmed if this was ever properly on the table.
Councillors further agreed that a structural engineer’s report, that will include below the water line, would be needed before any potential purchase or regeneration scheme could be given the green light given the harbour’s ‘poor standard’.
There is strong public support for the preservation of this well known local landmark, with the public gallery packed with local people at last week’s Place and Prosperity committee.
However any restoration work to the harbour is likely to be expensive, given that an estimated 2016 price tag for restoration works was over £177,000, according to a council report presented to the committee.
A report further explained the complex ownership issues surrounding the harbour, stating the landmark is privately owned while the seabed is property of the Crown Estates.
Any regeneration of the historic landmark would then require the harbour owner to sell the landmark to the council, and an agreement would also have to be reached between Crown Estates and the council to allow any works to be completed if the seabed was included.
According to a council report, in 2015 sections of the harbour were to discovered to have collapsed or become unstable – nearly 10 years ago.
The report further outlined ‘multiple sites of erosion, voids of large sections of the walls and a collapsed section of the parapet wall’ as some of the remedial works identified in four locations within the harbour.
The report went on to explain that a full structural engineer’s analysis would be needed and this ‘would normally be completed at the owner’s expense’ before the council could move forward.
According to the local authority, the structural engineer’s report would be a ‘vital element’ in the development of an outline business case which the council must consider before any decision to purchase the harbour is made.
Alderman Robert Adair welcomed the full public gallery and the council’s decision to ‘bring the owner to the table so we can work together’.
“All the local councillors are united on this, I think this is a positive recommendation before the council, and shows to local people that we are listening to them,” said Mr Adair.
He said it was ‘regrettable’ that the harbour had fallen into a state of disrepair ‘for so many years’, hoped the council would be able to ‘work constructively with the owner’ and that this would be ‘another step forward in bringing this issue to conclusion’.
Councillor Nigel Edmund said the harbour boasted historic links to Kircubbin and was of ‘great significance’ to local people. “We would like to be further along but this will keep the project alive for a while longer and hopefully we will get the result the people of Kircubbin want,” he stated.
Councillor Richard Smart voiced safety concerns about the harbour’s connection to the main coastal road, though a council officer confirmed that the Department for Infrastructure had assured the road was ‘perfectly sound’.
Alderman Alan McDowell said the structural engineer’s report would be vital in preparing the outline business case and said it was important to establish how much any purchase and restoration would cost.
He said the harbour project would involve ‘considerable expenditure’ and the local authority would need to source grants and funding.
Closing the debate, Mr Adair said: “We want to work positively with the owner, the council, the community group, and elected members to try to resolve this issue. It will be positive not only for Kircubbin but for the wider peninsula community.
“This is positive for the people who have come to the public gallery and may it be a step forward in bringing this issue to a conclusion.”
Councillors also agreed to write to or meet with with representatives of Kircubbin and District Community Association to advise them of any council decision about the harbour and the process going forward.
Each committee decision must be ratified at a full council meeting at the end of the month.
