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Development of Marine Based Industries at Watchet Marina

In Watchet Fisher Associates were commissioned to look at the feasibility of the development of marine based industries to support visitors to the marina.

The aim of the research was to:

• ascertain the level of demand for marine support businesses;
• appraise the suitability of potential sites; and
• test the proposed business support offer to verify this would meet demand.

At a presentation to West Somerset District Council 'Unit 5' the following recommendations were made by the consultants following the feasibility study.

The future of the marina, its facilities and its immediate surroundings could become a magnet to attract new berth holders, a higher number of visiting boaters and tourists from its surrounding areas. The harbour also has to respect and cater for Watchet's long-standing local boat owners (WBOA) by providing cost effective moorings and facilities to encourage the younger generation to enjoy the sea and learn seafaring skills. Boat owners and tourists will only keep their boats in Watchet, visit in high numbers and spend their disposable incomes, if the area provides an enjoyable overall experience and if the services are available to support their needs. The following has to be achieved to foster sustainable success:

Action 1: Provide essential personal facilities for the boat owner to allow the marina to reach full capacity. Income derived from berth holders, services and site rental must provide a return on investment able to support reinvestment in maintaining facilities and meeting forthcoming environmental regulations. 

Action 2: Provide essential boatyard services to support the marina. The number of boats that are berthed and operate out of the marina must be maximised in order to provide critical demand needed for such services to survive and prosper.

Action 3: Facilitate development of value added services. Provide the opportunity for further marine related businesses to be sited at East Quay, which will further support and enhance the site. The potential businesses will require the marina to be operating at full capacity and have to rely on gaining a customer base outside of the local marina to become sustainable.

Action 4: Create additional mooring capacity. Provide opportunities to develop critical mass of boats.

Action 5: Enhance the wider appeal of the town. If Watchet does not provide an attractive proposition for boat owners to enjoy their lesiure time in the marina, it will not reach its full potential.

In terms of employment it was estimated that direct potential marine related employment would be 22 to 24 full time jobs and 11 part time/seasonal jobs. The businesses generating this employment would be based primarily on the East Quay, but also at the Paper Mill site. In addition, there would be considerable indirect and induced economic impacts from the marine industry. It may be beneficial to extend this work into an economic impact study. This would quantify the real longer term impact on the local economy. 

Business Development Requirements for Roughmoor Enterprise Park in Williton

In Williton EKOS Consulting have completed the research into the business development  Roughmoor Enterprise Centre.

The aim of this research was to test the proposed support service offer and associated services to be provided in the Roughmoor workspace 'hub', in order to ascertain/verify that this would match demand; and explore and validate the level of service provision for businesses that have not yet started, such as the provision of hot desks and business start up advice and training. 

From desk research and consultation exercises, the following conclusions were drawn:

It was difficult to predict the demand for the workspace. A total of 6 of the 20 businesses interviewed expressed an interest in the workspace units.  The quality of existing premises was listed as the biggest barrier to business growth.  Evidence drawn from case studies suggests that, provided the correct zoning of uses and lease terms are in place, close to full occupancy should be achievable.

West Somerset District Council has some knowledge of latent demand for the units through business surveys and property enquiries.  It is important, however, that the market is tested extensively with bespoke adverts at district and county level and possibly further afield.  This will help in building up a waiting list of potential occupants for the managed workspaces so that high occupancy levels are achieved from an early stage.

Leases should be kept simple and tight time constraints for moving on should be avoided.  The main priority is to guarantee high occupancy levels so that building running costs can be supported without annual WSDC revenue input. Measures should, however, be taken to provide a range of larger units for businesses that have outgrown their premises.

The 'hub' and 'spokes' should be co-ordinated by a full time manager.  Duties should include: co-ordinating cleaning and external maintenance; agreeing leases; marketing the units and services; security and performing general business advice and signposting.

Support services should include a reception, meeting rooms, a kitchen and business support.  The provision of other facilities should be based upon tenant demand and should be cost effective.  Business Link would be prepared to host start-up advice drop in sessions and one-off events at Roughmoor providing there is appropriate demand.  It would be up to the managed workspace manager to co-ordinate this.  Similarly, the Somerset Skills Alliance would be prepared to use Roughmoor as a training outreach centre.  The main business advice would include legal and financial issues, health and safety, IT and sales and marketing.  

Based upon lessons learnt from other case studies, it is suggested that West Somerset District Council consider supporting start-up businesses through discounted rates in the initial 18 months of their operation. This could be based upon the Blencathra Workspace model.

The research report was presented to Unit 5 of West Somerset District Council on 24 January 2006. The recommendations will assist in the process of application for funding the development of the site for business units and a business hub.