The company behind Fishguard's proposed marina has been granted a licence to drill over 30 boreholes in Fishguard Bay, despite concerns raised by local residents over noise.

In December Conygar Investment Company PLC applied to drill 32 cable percussive and rotary coring boreholes in the harbour.

The exploratory drilling will remove seabed sediment from a depth of up to 25 metres. Each borehole will take an average of two days to drill working on a 24/7 basis.

During the consultation process in December Goodwick residents expressed concerns at the noise that would be created by the drilling, saying that it would have a huge impact on the twin towns of Fishguard and Goodwick.

To mitigate against this, the licence prohibits drilling three of the holes near to houses in Goodwick, between 11pm and 7am.

Two of the boreholes where night drilling is prohibited are 25 metres deep, the other is a cone penetration test hole.

A report prepared by noise and vibration experts in February concludes that the drilling will not have any significant noise impact during the day. However at the southern end of Quay Road and on Station Hill night time drilling is likely to have a "significant impact" when boreholes are within 210 and 250 metres of these areas.

The report recommends best practice to be followed to minimise noise levels. This includes notifying the local community of the length and time of the work, installing rubber matting on the jack up rig, carrying out standard penetration tests during the day and evening where possible and installing acoustic boarding around the jack up rig when drilling takes place during night time hours.

It adds that if complaints are received in respect of noise, noise monitoring should be undertaken and, if appropriate, an action plan be provided to the local authorities and implemented to reduce noise levels.

The report concludes that if best practice is followed noise levels will be minimised and reduced to the extent where there would be no significant impact.

The drilling licence expires on June 13 2015.

Goodwick county councillor Gwilym Price welcomed the fact that exploratory work was about to start.

"I'm pleased that things are moving," he said. The majority of people in Fishguard and Goodwick want to see that development of the marina and the harbour. It will bring a lot of money to the town and jobs as well."