Colwyn Bay Waterfront Redevelopment

[Yorkie]

How much is it all costing, I wonder?   Dredgers are not cheap to hire, although the sand may be free!

 Z**

[Ian]

I think (but I'm not 100% certain) that the dredged sand comes from the Mersey, where dredgers routinely clear the centre channels.

[Linda]

I hope its not from in the Mersey isnt it a pretty grimmey river ,full of effluent and chemicals etc. We have a blue flag here at Colwyn. I wonder if we still will have that after all this work 

[Fester]

Hmmm, I thought I had seen it on the BBC News that the sand was dredged up from the sea just a couple of miles out from Colwyn Bay itself.   

But I have been drinking heavily, and the memory fades........  Z**

[Ian]

You could be right, F.  I'll try to find out.

[Ian]

Found this:

":A rubber floater line was also connected to the sea end of the steel pipeline, and this section of pipe will connect to the dredger taking the sand from the sea bed approximately 20 miles north of Colwyn Bay, before sailing to Colwyn Bay where it anchors a kilometre offshore."

That makes it opposite Formby and the Mersey entrance, so I imagine it's sand displaced by tidal currents, and the dredger is keeping the Mersey Bar passage clear for ships turning into the Mersey, so it's not actual Mersey sand, then :-))))

[DaveR]

If you click on this link and then zoom out the map, you can clearly see the ship's progress to and from the area it is collecting the sand from:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?mmsi=212487000&centerx=-3.009333&centery=53.43616&zoom=10&type_color=3

[Linda]

The ship is now in Liverpool for refuel according to my ex mariner hubby. Looks like the sand isn't actually coming out of the mersey, it stops and dredges much further out to sea. We watched it on the marine site last night ( we must get a life) its very interesting we also watched a convoy of six military vessels heading to Liverpool of different nationalities keeping very close to each other .You can tell there wasn't very much on the tele last night. 

[snowcap]

as far as the Mersey river being polluted,  i read someware that it had cleared up that much that there were salmon caught in it not so long ago.

[BMD]

Weren't boat trips from Liverpool to the North Wales coast once a regular occurence? I seem to recall such a trip from my childhood - Liverpool to Llandudno & back, I think. I remember a very plush, luxurious boat and a fantastic day out.

In fact, isn't that partly what piers are for? If Colwyn Bay pier is successful in its lottery bid, I can't think of a better way to bring people to Colwyn Bay than by boat trip. I'm dreaming, no doubt. Still, I think it's more realistic than the believe that jet-skiers will resurrect the local economy (not that I have anything against jet-skis - but it's a tiny-minority hobby).

I walked around the Colwyn Bay waterfront area a couple of days ago. I thought it looked okay in the sunshine - they've made a good job of the hard-landscaping: nice solid white railings, tidy concrete work, etc. Even the zinc cladding looks a bit better in the direct sunlight - not quite so oppressive

[Nemesis]

Yes the boat trips were a regular thing.
My Grandparents didn't have a car, so they caught a train to Liverpool from West Yorkshire and came down to Llandudno on the boats, St Tudno or St Trillo usually. At the end of the week they reversed their journey. It was a much loved part of their holiday.

[DaveR]

Boat trips have never been possible from Colwyn Bay Pier, as the water around it is not deep enough.

[Michael]

  I noticed on Daves excellent coverage on the travels of the dredger that it flies the Cyprus flag. Better keep a close eye on it.

[snowcap]

i did the trip from liverpool to llan. when i was in school, we traveled back in a crosvile double decker. you never forgot days like that when you were kids

[Fester]

Weren't boat trips from Liverpool to the North Wales coast once a regular occurence? I seem to recall such a trip from my childhood - Liverpool to Llandudno & back, I think. I remember a very plush, luxurious boat and a fantastic day out.

In fact, isn't that partly what piers are for? If Colwyn Bay pier is successful in its lottery bid, I can't think of a better way to bring people to Colwyn Bay than by boat trip. I'm dreaming, no doubt. Still, I think it's more realistic than the believe that jet-skiers will resurrect the local economy (not that I have anything against jet-skis - but it's a tiny-minority hobby).

I walked around the Colwyn Bay waterfront area a couple of days ago. I thought it looked okay in the sunshine - they've made a good job of the hard-landscaping: nice solid white railings, tidy concrete work, etc. Even the zinc cladding looks a bit better in the direct sunlight - not quite so oppressive

I was talking to the Manager of Llandudno Pier just yesterday about this very need, (not Colwyn Bay Pier, as Dave says it is impossible)
Llandudno Pier needs a service vessel between Liverpool and Llandudno on a regular schedule.
Not a pleasure cruise twice a year or so.
However, due to Council and Contractor difficulties, this seems no nearer to being achieved this year.