AROUND 40 people attended a meeting in Fishguard on Monday, March 10 to discuss the future of Lower Town Harbour.

It was called in response to Pembrokeshire County Council carrying out a benchmarking review, which looked at the harbour’s fees and charges.

It was recommended that annual mooring, visitor and launching fees would rise during 2014/15, along with the introduction of a £200 fee for commercial leisure operators.

Figures show during a 10 year period between 2002/03 and 2012/13 Fishguard harbour’s expenditure was £32,000, while its income was almost half that at £17,000. Pembrokeshire County Council subsidised the shortfall.

The idea of bringing the harbour back into local ownership was discussed by Fishguard and Goodwick Town Council last month.

Councillor Alex Allison attended the meeting at the Skirmisher, and reporting back to town council, he said it was very positive.

“What people want to do is create a charitable trust which will have representatives of various interested organisations.

“They are looking to set up a model similar to that in Solva, so any income generated is fed back into the harbour.

“Everybody was in favour of the town council acting as the facilitator to take it forward.

“But once they become properly set up, we should step back and let them stand alone.”

Cllr Allison suggested that they open discussions with Pembrokeshire County Council to get the ball rolling.

He said: “The opinion I get is that they’re keen to let it go.”

Cllr Allison’s proposals that the town council accept his recommendation to become facilitators, and that they hold another public meeting on the issue, were backed by councillors.

The Mayor, Cllr Richard Grosvenor suggested that the town council meet with Geoff Kingston, the Principal Estates Surveyor of Pembrokeshire County Council, ahead of the next meeting.