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Moving commercial port activity away from St Sampson’s Harbour has been declared an "extraordinary" opportunity to breathe new life into the Bridge.
Proposals from the States’ Trading Supervisory Board would see the current harbour become a leisure only port, with additional facilities for private boats.
This comes as part of big-money proposals for a completely new, third harbour at Longue Hougue South, which would host all freight and fuel imports.
Following a two-year review, the trading body also wants to build a new passenger terminal on North Beach and create multi-level underground parking in Town at a whopping overall capital cost of £360m.
While these plans will reportedly bring improvements to St Peter Port Harbour, those behind the proposals regard St Sampson's as "the real prize" to be won.
Pictured: A shortlist of seven different options was drawn up and then voted upon, taking into consideration the price tag attached to each and the benefits they would bring. Combination 5 is the chosen option.
“The whole area of the Bridge is the island’s second main retail centre, and a social hub for many," said STSB President Peter Roffey. "However there is no doubt that over the years the once vibrant nature of the area has declined.
“We should not underestimate the cultural and heritage offering of St Sampson’s Harbour and the Bridge area, as well as their potential to be enhanced.
"The Future Harbour Development project presents what is potentially a once in a generation opportunity to address that, and breathe new life into Guernsey’s northern capital.”
The key to unlocking the Bridge's potential lies in freeing up space in the marina for leisure craft and removing many of the industrial compounds along Southside and Northside, which are currently used for handling and storage.
Pictured: Proposals from the States’ Trading Supervisory Board (STSB) would see the current harbour become a leisure only port.
At present, St Sampson’s Harbour deals mainly with ‘bulk’ cargoes – typically liquid fuels, aggregate, cement and other construction materials, as well as scrap metal.
"The main issue is the risk associated with importing and handling flammable fuels close to businesses and houses," says the STSB in its policy letter. "This is exacerbated by the harbour ‘drying out’, which would prevent a vessel being towed away from the area if a major incident did occur.
"The discharge of fuel oils, petrol and liquid gas also limits the potential for development around the harbour, restricting opportunities to improve the wider area."
The ships that bring fuel to Guernsey can only come into St Sampson’s Harbour at certain states of the tide. The tide goes out while they are unloading and they have extra strong hulls which allow them to sit on the seabed. These tankers have to be certified as NAABSA (Not Always Afloat But Safely Aground" vessels.
Watch: A fly-through of the £350m plans to redevelop the eastern seaboard.
In the last States term, £830,000 was spent carrying out all the work needed to come up with "a long list of options, solutions and evaluate the risks in the current supply chain" due to concerns over the way hydrocarbons are imported and NAABSA vessels going out of production.
It ultimately led to no real changes in policy, but those investigations did lead to the fleetingly mooted idea for a £100m multi-berth fuelling jetty being discarded by the previous Environment & Infrastructure Committee.
Under the STSB proposals, all fuels will instead be imported into the island at Longue Hougue South, where Guernsey's Harbourmaster Captain David Barker says there would be no tidal restrictions.
Pictured: A graphic showing the steps that are taken to transport fuel to Guernsey.
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