No new plans yet for former port ferry site

Site owner, Associated British Ports (ABP), says the land is still being marketed for port-related activities.

The site is listed on ABP’s website as having a “total port acreage of 100 acres, with a roro berth which has a loading capacity of 180 tonnes”.

But some people in Fleetwood believe the land is going to waste.

Stena says it left Fleetwood, back in December 2010, because the operation was no longer commercially viable.

The decision to leave meant the loss of some 50 jobs in a dark week for the town.

Alan Marsh, a former Fleetwood Town Council member whose chief concern was always the creation of job opportunities, says the site offers great jobs potential for Fleetwood.

He said: “It is shame to see a site like that still empty and unused after more than five years.

“Perhaps it needs some of the town’s movers and shakers to site down and discuss how the best use can be made of it. It is by the side of a river and there is an estuary out into the Irish Sea.

“Fleetwood always needs jobs and that land is crying out for some kind if light industrial use.”

Former Fleetwood MP Eric Ollerenshaw voiced hopes at one stage that the land could be tied in with the windfarm industry off Barrow, with suggestions that turbine repairs could be carried out in Fleetwood. However, nothing materialised.

An ABP spokesperson said: “The land at the Port of Fleetwood which was formerly occupied by ferry operator Stena is still being marketed for port-related use.”