Packed Falmouth meeting raises concerns over docks dredge plans

The hall ran short of chairs. More than 130 people crowded into Pendennis Community Centre on Wednesday evening, drawn together by the proposed redevelopment and dredge of Falmouth Docks, and by a shared worry about what it could mean for the water the town depends on.

The meeting brought marine specialists, oyster fishers and residents into the same room. The message that ran through the evening was consistent. People support the docks and the jobs they hold, but many in the room want to be sure the estuary, and the fishing industry tied to it, are properly protected before any dredge begins.

What is being proposed

DEFRA has named the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) as the lead environmental regulator for the £150 million redevelopment, tasked with overseeing the consent process.

The plans include a 10.5m dredge of the Fal Estuary, close to a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) that supports ecosystems and wildlife sensitive to disruption. Around 643,000 cubic metres of sediment would be dredged from 233,000 square metres of seabed, deep enough to bring large cruise ships, each the length of 33 double decker buses, into the docks.

Nobody in the room argued against the docks themselves. Attendees said they are vital for local jobs and backed modernisation. The questions were about the safeguards around the estuary, and how confident the community can be that the marine environment, and the fishing grounds within it, will come through the work intact.

“The environment is the economy”

Dr Dan Barrios-O’Neill, Head of Marine Conservation at Cornwall Wildlife Trust, spoke about the value of the estuary and the risks the community is weighing. He pointed to the unique ecosystem of the Carrick Roads, the sensitivity of the protected area, and the importance of the fisheries that work these waters.

“The environment is the economy,” he told the meeting. “Nature underpins so much of our local and national economy, and protecting Falmouth’s unique ecosystems also protects local businesses and tourism trade.”

Late last year the Trust submitted a Holding Objection to the MMO. Its published position sets out concerns about sediments that would be disturbed during the dredge, the effect of underwater noise on marine life, and the protected status of the area.

The fishers’ case

Several oyster fishers and commercial fishers from the region were in the room, and they spoke about what the estuary means to their livelihoods. Their worry is that sediment stirred up by the dredge could drift on the tides and wind into the grounds they work.

“Falmouth’s oyster fishery is the last in the country that is productive,” one fisher said. “We have a significant heritage here that brings in local tourism, jobs and economic benefits. If the dredging goes ahead, it would be a disaster for us.”

Bigger ships, more passengers

Residents turned the focus to the purpose of the dredge. A central aim of the project is to bring in more and larger cruise ships, which would quadruple the number of cruise passengers coming ashore in Falmouth to 200,000 a year. Several asked whether that scale of tourism would benefit the community, or a local economy so closely tied to the health of Falmouth’s marine environment.

One resident raised the emissions and air pollution associated with large cruise ships, and asked how a rise in cruise traffic on that scale would sit alongside Cornwall Council’s Climate Emergency Development Plan.

What happens next

Further analysis of the data is expected over the next few weeks. Cornwall Council’s Strategic Planning Committee is due to decide on the parts of the plan above the water line on 20 August.

The community group Stop The Dredge is raising awareness of the potential effects of the dredge on the local community and wildlife, and a website setting out the concerns, and what local residents can do, has been put up at falmouthdocksredevelopment.info.

“If the dredging goes ahead,” as one fisher put it, “it would be a disaster for us.”