Great Yarmouth provides the main access to the Broads from the sea. Historically, the port was a ‘Haven’ to yachtsmen escaping foul weather, but it provides no such facilities today. All the riverside moorings are in private hands except Hall Quay, sometimes called Town Hall Quay, owned by Great Yarmouth Borough. Suppose they were to add pontoons and steps to the 4m quay, the potential market would be substantial but, as it stands, even fit crew would be deterred from climbing up the vertical steel ladders to spend a few hours seeing the sights while their precious boat was moored to the imposing steel wall. A young, sick or frail person would find it impossible to climb up, raising serious questions about the port’s policies for the less able.
European leisure yachting is highly regulated, requiring certificates of competence, and carefully recorded logbooks. The UK is less demanding, so Great Yarmouth and other East Coast ports would attract visitors if they were safer and more friendly. The more welcoming yacht basin at Lowestoft cost £3.2m to build, largely funded by the European Union, and it can service dozens of visiting yachts at a time. It’s reasonable to expect their crews to enjoy a few drinks, find somewhere to have supper and refuel their vessel before food shopping for the return trip, all of which is good for the Lowestoft economy. There is no reason why the same markets should not be tapped by Great Yarmouth and the Broads – both of which need economic stimulus.
Great Yarmouth should offer a warmer welcome to waterborne tourists, to include better access, safety and hygiene standards. Hall Quay needs pontoons and steps leading to shoreside facilities and showers, and there are plenty of funding opportunities for this sort of thing. It’s strange that more has not been done in a borough that virtually invented tourism and has thrived on its input since the days of Dickens and Defoe! The river enjoys a public navigation right and has riverside pubs, restaurants and boatyards that need customers.
Such improvements would also benefit yacht traffic in the opposite direction. Many large motor cruisers moored at Brundall can operate at sea and regularly pass through Yarmouth. They would like to moor between the bridges in Yarmouth, as would sailing yachts needing to remast after passing under Haven Bridge and before passing through Herring Bridge to the sea.
Passage to the Northern Rivers for vessels wishing to access the Broads from the sea is blocked by two low bridges across the lower Bure at Great Yarmouth. The first is Vauxhall Bridge, a 19th century, disused rail bridge that will never again carry rail traffic, and half of which is used as a footbridge for commuters to and from Great Yarmouth Vauxhall station. The bridge is a listed monument, but only half of it is original and its construction of internal hanging bolts makes the structural condition difficult and expensive to survey. Moreover, it might fairly be described as a hazard to navigation as it is the site of several incidents of damage to boats and personal injury every year. With a lift of 1.87m it could be raised to the same height as Acle Bridge and still be used by pedestrians. As the tide ‘backs up’ under the bridge from the river Yare (which ebbs for an hour longer), Vauxhall Bridge is the more urgent contender for raising. The A47 bridge requires a more expensive solution. Either a new bridge with a clearance of 4m (as at Acle) could be constructed or a lower, opening bridge substituted.
Most bridge lifts take place twice a day at Low Water. If these two bridge impediments to navigation were removed, much of the northern Broads infrastructure would be significantly opened out for increased tourism. The particularly sensitive areas of the Upper Bure and Upper Thurne would continue to be protected by the low bridges at Wroxham and Potter Heigham.
Great opportunities exist to invest in our waterborne tourist industry. The tourist infrastructure and expertise are largely in place to service such an expansion, which would greatly boost the Broads economy.
Jamie Campbell is Chairman of the Excelsior Trust and a member of the BRAG Committee
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