WATCHET harbour is going through perhaps the most radical transformation in its history, with new and exciting times ahead for the residents.

And work on the town's £5.1 million marina is "progressing well", according to up-dates from developers Dean and Dyball.

Computer-designed drawings of how the leisure facility will look have been on show for months but the bare bones of the marina are now finally starting to take shape.

If construction runs to schedule, the marina should be open to boat enthusiasts by July - but with just 70 berths complete instead of the 240 which are planned. And the argument over what should be sited on the East Wharf still rumbles on.

Dean and Dyball are planning to build 18 homes but the consensus of opinion seems to favour the Watchet Star project - an ambitious proposal to dry-dock a vessel laden with visitor attractions.

Protesters against the homes have dug their heels in and the team behind the liner scheme will be meeting Tom King MP to lobby for his support in a last ditch attempt to get the green light.

Over the past few months, residents in Watchet have seen tonnes of rock coming into the town by lorry as construction of the marina progresses.

At the harbour itself, the impounding wall bases are complete and the erections of pre-cast units on which the wall will take shape into a recognisable structure have begun.

Dean and Dyball have also started building the tidal gate structure base which requires the temporary construction of a small dam in which the work can be carried out.

A causeway will also be needed to allow builders access to the impounding wall and tidal gate. Most of the rock armour material has now reached the harbour, although a large amount of smaller material is yet to come.

Meanwhile, details of the hotly contested 18 homes planned for the East Wharf are to be released later this month, even though the designs were originally going to be made public at the end of last year.

Watchet Town Council chairman Cllr Tony Bowden told January's council meeting that he thought Dean and Dyball had already completed plans and were guarding them closely in order to rush the scheme through.

The Watchet marina project has been in the public arena for seven years, following the end of commercial shipping at the harbour in October 1993 when a Cardiff shipping group, with a subsidiary company in Watchet, went into liquidation.

West Somerset District Council employed Coopers and Lybrand to investigate options for the harbour's future use, from which came the idea to build a marina. A feasibility study was carried out, a financial package put together and a successful bid was made for £1 million Rural Challenge funding.

The venture's funding history has a series of ups and downs, but the wider view was always to produce something that would have a knock-on effect on the economy and regeneration of the whole community.

One idea that sprang from the marina project was the currently topical Watchet Star - a static 250ft ocean liner on the East Quay to act as major visitor magnet for West Somerset.

Although Dean and Dyball turned down the proposal, those behind it have been invited to make a presentation to district councillors on Monday.

The Watchet Star would be crammed with luxury cabins, a restaurant, cinema, gym and a cybercafe and swimming pool, and public meetings in the town found backing in principle from around 98 per cent of residents.

The ocean liner is brainchild of solicitor Peter Capper who has fought hard for the past six months to see his vision of the future of Watchet become a reality.

"I will be talking to the district council to put our side over but I'm not so sure what influence they have over what finally goes on the East Wharf," he said.

"Dean and Dyball said our figures do not add up but I and the project team think they do. Altogether 2.8 million visitors come to West Somerset every year.

"People come to see Minehead, Watchet, Dunster and Porlock and these are just small towns and villages. Tropiquaria sees £65,000 visitors a year, Dunster Castle 110,000 and Butlins receives the second highest number holidaymakers in Europe.

"That's an awful lot of people looking for things to do. Dean and Dyball are trying to say that people will not want to look at the liner, walk around on it and eat a first class meal."

Mr Capper said he had been stopped by people in the street who were concerned about the Watchet Star's future and what he was going to do next to persuade the marina developers to take his idea on board.

"But what has to be remembered is that Dean and Dyball will have to carry out an Environment Impact Assessment before they consider building the houses," Mr Capper said.

Photos: Steve Guscott.