The case for the port
The port and dock operators say the dredge is essential. Miles Carden, chief executive of Falmouth Harbour, notes that dredging here is nothing new, since the harbour was kept deep that way for centuries before the recent gap, and that ships have grown to the point where the water has to follow if Cornwall's marine economy is going to keep them. Balaena, which owns the site, says any work would be carried out under strict environmental controls. Drystan Jones, its director of port development, has said the intention is to modernise the docks carefully, with the town rather than around it, and to leave behind skilled work across several industries.
The scheme is broader than cruise tourism. There is a new area for assembling floating offshore wind turbines, roughly twice the freight capacity the docks handle now, and a projected £13 million a year for the local economy. Earlier versions of the plan, going back over a decade, were argued on a figure of 800 jobs.
Falmouth has been here before
A £20 million dredge was blocked in 2011 over the maerl beds. A six-month trial followed, with a surface layer of maerl lifted, put back and then monitored, after which harbour authorities said the bed had recovered inside 44 weeks. Critics countered that the trial covered a tiny footprint next to the real thing, and that nobody had resolved where all the spoil ends up once it disperses.
