WATCHET marina owner Tim Taylor yesterday (Thursday) called on West Somerset District Council to take on board the findings of the study as decision day on the future shape of the East Quay draws nearer. A working group, including the town's three district councillors, is due to receive presentations from the three shortlisted developers today (Friday). Mr Taylor, who has not submitted a detailed scheme, will also be given the opportunity to make a presentation before the group makes its recommendation on the preferred development on November 18. That recommendation, coupled with a report from corporate director Adrian Dyer who has been involved in the process from the beginning, will then go before the council's cabinet for a final decision on December 5. Mr Dyer told the Free Press this week that the three councillors - Tony Knight, David Banks and Jenny Hill - would be given a copy of the feasibility study, in which neither they, nor local county councillor Anthony Trollope-Bellew, who is also chairman of the Watchet Regeneration Partnership, have had any input. Mr Dyer said the findings of the study would be used to inform the decision-making process, although he pointed out that it was not commissioned in relation to the East Quay. But Mr Taylor said: "I hope this document will be taken into account. "It was produced by independent consultants who were selected by the district council - the county council may have paid for it but it was the district council which wanted it. "The findings definitely support the plans that I have put forward for the East Quay and are very much what I have suggested. "I do not believe the area is big enough for housing and there is a real concern about the co-existence between residential properties and marina-related businesses." The marina was opened in 2001 and was built in a partnership deal between the district council and developers Dean and Dyball, who ran the facility until it was bought by Southampton-based Mr Taylor about 18 months ago. Its construction was funded by substantial grant aid, including £500,000 from the now defunct English Partnerships, which carried a commitment to deliver 50 'outputs' from the East Quay development in a mixed residential and commercial scheme.
