The site for the proposed Torridge Marina development

Following several public consultations, developers have submitted plans for a new marina to be formally considered.

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PLANS for a new marina were officially submitted to Torridge District Council last week after a number of heated public consultations.

Proposals for the Torridge Marina appeared to be met by a number of concerns at public meetings last month in Northam and Bideford, but the developers say the feedback wasn’t all negative.

Maria Bailey, planning consultant to the developers, said: “Given how vocal the negativity was, I have been pleasantly surprised by the feedback.

“Many of those in favour did not feel they could contribute in the rather hostile environment of the public meetings but did take the time to fill out the feedback forms.

“The statement of community engagement being submitted with the application shows 68 percent of all those who responded were supportive of the proposals.”

At the public meetings, two issues that caused the most concern were the workability of the marina and traffic problems caused by the residential development.

The plans include a number of expert reports demonstrating how the marina will work in a user-friendly document, and according to the developers the Bideford harbour master has also confirmed that it is workable.

As well as adhering to measures that the highway authority requested with the last proposal, the plans will address further traffic calming methods.

Mrs Bailey said: “We are also dealing with the issues of providing parking for the adjacent allotment site to take these cars off the main road, and also looking at the possibility of providing off road residents parking close to Bloody Corner.

“These measures are not being requested by the highway authority but it was clear from the consultation events that these matters were an issue locally and we needed to see how we could address them.”

If passed, the plans will see a multi-million pound marina built in the Knapp House area of Northam, complete with berthing for up to 250 boats, around 300 residential units and a 90-bed care village with a state-of-the-art dementia unit.