Plans revealed for new performance sailing centre on Portland
It would be close to the existing Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy
DETAILS of a sailing centre proposal close to the existing National Sailing Academy at Portland have been made public – with a mixed response.
The Royal Yachting Association wants to build what it describes as a ‘performance and innovation’ centre close to the existing training centre off Portland Beach Road, which is already ‘home’ to many Olympic-standard sailors.
The ideas are subject to public comment until June 15th and had attracted opposition from Portland Town Council, although it now says its concerns have been addressed and it is now satisfied with the proposal.
The Town Council initially claimed the new centre will be in direct competition with the existing National Sailing Academy, take up valuable waterside land for yacht and dinghy storage, would effect visitor and campervan parking sites and could reduce the capacity of various world-standard sailing championships.
Portland councillors also claim the proposed three-storey heigh building is inappropriate for the site although say smaller units on several sites might be better.
Opposition has also come from Shock Sailing, based close to the Academy.
It says, in a letter to Dorset Council, “We do not believe the proposed location for the development is suitable for a number of reasons and there exists a much more suitable location for this building in the rear of the gravel boat storage area…
“The planning document provided by the applicant refers to the new RYA building location as being adjacent to the current Sailing Academy. This is highly misleading, the location for the proposed building is very much inside the grounds of the Academy and indeed on land that is an integral part of the infrastructure of the Academy.”
Shock Sailing says that removing the use of that land to build the new centre is likely to result in 60 fewer boats being stored there – reducing the opportunities for maintenance work and other goods and services as well as available space to host large-scale sailing events.
“This development would therefore impact the neighbouring businesses and a host of sub contractors.”
The proposals have also attracted many supporters, both locally and from sailors across the country who train and sail in Portland Harbour, dozens of them writing in support of the plans.
David Griffith, chair of the board of directors for the Sailing Academy, in response to the objections, says the proposed new centre will not compete with the WPNSA and believes that if there is any impact on local businesses it would be minimal – and could lead to an increase in demand for specialist marine suppliers.
Mr Griffith says the Academy is satisfied the new use of some of the land will not impact the ability to host events such as World Championships.
The RYA says the proposed new centre would bring together their elite training technical and performance units under one roof, “providing state of the art, purpose-built facilities in a new holistic Performance and Innovation Centre to enable structured and informal communication and collaboration between departments.”
Its current Technical and Performance Units occupy two separate industrial units in leased premises at the end of Hamm Beach Road beyond Portland Marina.