Review of Cornwall Harbours, England

Review of Cornwall Harbours, England

Cornwall Council is the owner of 12 main harbour facilities. These range from minimal facilities such as Downderry, to extensive Harbours such as Penzance and Truro. All of these are community facilities at heart:

• Many harbours have strong association with, or are indivisible from, the local tourism identity, notably St Ives which arguably characterises one of Cornwall’s key tourism hubs. Facilities such as St Ives, Newquay, and Prince of Wales Pier have a strong role related to commercial tourism services such as trip boats and angling.
• The smaller harbours provide assets for and on behalf of the community, primarily for fishing and leisure use.
• Penzance, Truro and to some extent Penryn have a role as commercial harbours, with Penzance hosting the Isles of Scilly ferry service, and Truro accommodating laid up shipping and small cargo ships.
• In some cases the facilities offer support for social inclusion by permitting access to amenities and services (e.g. Prince of Wales Pier as one end of a core transport link.)

All facilities have strong socio economic links and functions, providing means for people to earn their living directly, or in servicing the supply chain that supports the marine sector (notably Penzance and Penryn).

Fisher Associates independent ports and shipping consultants undertook a review of all the Harbours and created a sustainable strategy built around:

• A financially self sustaining harbours portfolio in the long run
• With strong governance and community engagement
• Optimising socio-economic contribution to prosperity
• Balanced with strong environmental stewardship
• With an absolute requirement for safety for all harbours users