#HSSberthRemoval - A planning application from Stena Line to remove its idle HSS fast-ferry berth in Dun Laoghaire Harbour, has been declared invalid due to failing to comply with articles in the planning procedures, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCoCo) has deemed the application submitted earlier this month to be invalid due to a failure to fully furnish documents in accordance with the Planning & Development Regulations 2001.
Among the articles not complied by Stena Line in its application to DLRCoCo, is the requirment that an applicant shall within the period of two weeks before the making of a planning application give notice of the intention to publish the application in a newspaper.
It transpires that the planning authority only received the application from Stena but this was submitted late, been one day beyond the required fortnight to be recognised valid.
Stena Line's head office in Holyhead (responsible that is for its Irish Sea south operations) has made no new resubmission to DLRCoCo to date.
The Stena HSS berth has remained redundant since the ferry operator withdrew the fast-ferry craft more than one-year ago in September 2014. The ferry firm decided to concentrate all operations in Dublin Port.
Prior to the transfer to the capital, Dublin Port has already been a customer of Stena since 1995, one year before the HSS Stena Explorer took up service on the Dun Laoghaire route. The former fast-ferry remains laid-up in the Welsh port, while two ferries operate the Dublin-Holyhead route which takes 3 hour 30 minute to complete the core central Irish Sea route.
As previously reported on Afloat.ie, Stena want to remove this year the specialist custom-built HSS craft berth linkspan, associated steel-supporting pier dolphins and concrete structures at St. Michael’s Pier. To give an indication, the outermost dolphin extends from the pierhead and is somewhat a little further into the harbour to that parrallel of the East Pier Bandstand.
The application would also involve work to dismantle where the 19,638 tonnes fast-ferry used to dock next to the connecting east/west walkway (double passenger enclosed gangways) structure and connecting walkways to the terminal completed in the mid-1990’s. There are plans to incorporate the proposed €18m cruise-berth’s associated passenger access and use of vehicle hard-standing areas within the disused ferry terminal.
Also last April, Afloat.ie contacted Stena which confirmed that as part of an agreement with Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, they will have to remove the linkspan and that the ferry firm were seeking the assistance of Stena Metall and Stena Teknik.
In the request by Stena to remove the berthing equipment at St Michael’s Pier, this would mean that no other fast-ferry except for the high-speed sea service (HSS) can use this port infrastructure. Secondly, as referred above the HSS Stena Explorer is laid-up in Holyhead's inner harbour.
There are however several parties who responded earlier this year to DLHC with expressions of interest to resume the seasonal-only ferry service. According to the harbour authority, should there be a suitable operator this would be from the season of 2016.