Ambitious plans for a £20 million marina at Stonehaven Harbour have been sunk.
Aberdeenshire Council wants to shelve the proposals to redevelop the harbour into a new-look quay, claiming it is “not a viable proposal”.
It comes five months after Stonehaven Town Partnership’s (STP) hopes to rejuvenate the spot were dashed following a feasibility study by PJ Consulting and Associates.
The report outlined a number of options the most ambitious of which was to create a marina at the harbour at a cost of between £10m and £20m.
Now the council’s director of infrastructure services, Stephen Archer, has ruled the option out for good. In a report to the Kincardine and Mearns area committee, he urges councillors to back his stance and states: “At this time, the redevelopment of Stonehaven Harbour as a marina is not a viable proposal”.
However, the planning chief is urging councillors to back a number of findings from the feasibility study for any potential projects at the harbour in the future.
David Fleming, chairman of the STP, accused the council of rejecting the idea of redeveloping the harbour without addressing “the real problems”.
The group managed to secure £22,500 of funding for the study from the Aberdeenshire European Fisheries Fund and the local authority.
The port has been making a financial loss on an annual basis and the group had hoped to breathe new life into it in order to attract more visitors.
Other ideas from the STP to regenerate the harbour had included creating a sailing school, diving school and yacht club.
Mr Fleming added: “As far as we are concerned the project is now dead.”
Councillors will discuss the report when they meet in Stonehaven on Tuesday.