Location, location!
Where to put a marina in Kings Lynn? Here are the parameters:- Costs around £1 - 1.2 million for 250 berths
- Adequate access by water (sufficient draught and air draught)
- Adequate access by road (doesn't add to Kings Lynn's approaching gridlock)
In order of desirability from a commercial point of view:
1st: Inward and outward facing
2nd: Inward facing
3rd: Outward facing
The current proposal
(Updated Final Masterplan) (map) needn't detain us for long.
The estimate of cost of building the marina basin and its lock is £6 million, plus
£2 million to divert the Nar. This is already out of sight cost-wise. Adding in
whatever it would cost to make the Nar navigable won't help at all: although it would improve
the operational viability of the marina by opening it up to an inland market the cost and
complication of the undertaking make it a very unpalatable option. The proposal to
build a lock into the Great Ouse at the Relief Channel Tail Sluice (another £2 million)
is an attempt to get the same result at a reduced(!) price, but the forecast traffic for
this lock probably won't justify building it. It's very likely that few inland boaters would
bother with two locks and a skirmish with a tidal river just to cover that final mile.
Instead they'll tie up to the waiting pontoon (there's got to be one for the lock), unfold their
bikes and steam into town on Cycle Route One:
saves an hour (minimum) of faffing around in locks plus the expense of the marina berthing charge.
The other problems with this lock is that it will only be able to operate on the high tide
(because boats can't be locked out into a river that doesn't have enough water to float them)
and it will
need to be manned (more expense!), just as the equivalent locks at Denver and Salters Lode have to be manned.
It's hard to find a marina that actually resembles what's proposed for the Waterfront Regeneration Project. This is discussed in 'An Unusual Proposal'.
Pros- Close to town center amenities
- Too expensive
- Poor road access: increases town traffic
- Access by water is tide limited
- Entrance lock implies heavy manning requirement (= high running cost)
- High cost of consequential work (diverting River Nar, building roads and bridges)
- High environmental cost (loss of Harding's Pits)
Inward-facing marina on the Relief Channel at the Tail Sluice
Pros- Cheap and easy construction
- Doesn't require lock gates (low manpower requirement = cheap to run)
- Doesn't impact town traffic
- Easy access to the town along Cycle Route 1
- Accessible by water 24/7
- Out of town location separates it from other amenities
Outward-facing: new yacht basin sharing Kings Lynn Dock dock gate
Could use part of existing dock (if available) or involve a new yacht basin on (soon to be redundant) Pattrick & Thompson site
Pros- Uses existing dock gate
- Cheap to implement
- 30 second stroll from Tuesday Market Place
- Easy to secure
- Takes advantage of expert operator
- Additional source of revenue for Port of Kings Lynn
- Might require additional gate to form actual lock in dock entrance
- Impacts town traffic (but mainly on northern access roads)
- Access is tidally limited
Outward-facing town centre yacht basin: lock in Purfleet, basin in (currently) Baker Lane carpark
The Purfleet was dredged and dammed off from the river with a liftable caisson at massive expense and has been pretty well totally unused ever since. The upper Purfleet (above the Kings St bridge) is a reed bed with a huge litter problem. The King Street bridge would require replacement with a lifting bridge.
Pros- Uses existing infrastructure
- Relatively cheap to implement
- Gives a purpose to the Purfleet
- Cleans out and gives purpose to the upper Purfleet
- Fabulous town centre location for visiting yachts (common in Netherlands, almost unknown in UK)
- Rectifies the original Purfleet project which has largely failed
- Very attractive for rubberneckers
- Requires a lifting bridge
- Not enough space for marina infrastructure: very attractive for visitors, not so good for resident boats
- Terrible security
- Impacts town traffic (but only as far as it caters to resident boats)
- Access is tidally limited
Here's a map (courtesy of Google) showing the locations: click on the markers for links to photos and text