Museum home possible for old lifeboat station (From Western Telegraph)
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Museum home possible for old lifeboat station
6:20pm Thursday 7th March 2013 in News
Discussions are underway regarding whether the century-old lifeboat station at St Davids could be relocated to Wales’ national history museum at St Fagans, the Western Telegraph can reveal.
RNLI representatives held meetings with St Davids City Council and Porthstinian Boatowners’ Association (PBA) last week to discuss the charity’s plans to construct a new lifeboat station at St Justinian.
City councillor Malcolm Gray has made enquiries as to whether the boathouse could be re-erected at St Fagans, an idea supported by the city council. The RNLI said it would have no objection to the idea as long as it involved no additional costs.
The city council has voted to support the RNLI’s planning application but the boatowners’ association has raised a number of concerns, including the potential impact on the local economy during the construction phase and the future of the present boathouse.
Some moorings are to be relocated as part of the preparations for the new Tamar boathouse project and the PBA has raised concerns regarding the potential impact of the scheme on local businesses.
An RNLI spokesman said there had been a “good discussion”
about the charity’s ability to work closely with the PBA and had offered assurances regarding the barge that would be working in the area during construction.
The RNLI said it has no further use for the existing slipway boathouse and under the terms of its lease it would be required to return the site to its prior condition unless it was agreed otherwise by the Crown.
The spokesman said: “Once planning consent for the new boathouse is in place, the Crown would be prepared to talk to interested parties about possible future uses.
“The situation is complicated by the listed status of the boathouse which means that special planning consent is required to demolish and this will only be approved once a full study has been made of alternative uses.”
