BOOMING Eyemouth Harbour’s long-term future is in safe hands after specialists were appointed to develop a 20-year ‘masterplan’.

Dorset-based Fisher Advisory Ltd are to create a physical blueprint for development of the harbour over the next two decades.

This will help the trustees to position the Harbour in line for future opportunities wherever these may lie and ensure that it continues to be a “key socio-economic enabler”.

Eyemouth Harbour Trust chair Euan Scott said “After a competitive tender process the appointment of Fisher Advisory represents a significant milestone in our future planning for the Harbour Estate and how it can best serve our stakeholders and the community for generations to come.

“The maritime sector is evolving at pace, and it is key to our collective future that we ensure Eyemouth Harbour is best placed to continue to play an important part of this evolution and make best use of Eyemouth Harbour’s favourable natural capital and strategic location on the UK coast.

“I would also like to place on record on behalf of the Trust my thanks for the continued support of Scottish Borders Council and South of Scotland Enterprise, without them the opportunity of this process would not have been possible.”

Chris Fisher, director of Fisher Advisory, said: “The masterplan will be developed in close collaboration with key stakeholders over the next six months, including a public consultation exercise, and we are delighted to have this opportunity to apply our experience gained with various other harbours in Scotland.”

The master planning project, notionally named ‘South-East Scotland Gateway’, has received £95,000 from UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Councillor Scott Hamilton, SBC’s executive member for community and business development, said: “This important appointment by Eyemouth Harbour Trust is an extremely positive development which demonstrates their ambition to grow and properly capitalise on future opportunities.

“The development of this long-term vision will undoubtedly help the harbour play a central role in supporting the local economy for years to come, helping to create jobs and support existing businesses within the area.”

South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) is also supporting the project in kind with support from a number of its teams.

Russel Griggs OBE, chair of SOSE, said: “Eyemouth has a bright future, with a huge number of exciting opportunities ahead and a potentially valuable role to play in Scotland’s renewable energy transition.

“These include harnessing supply chain jobs associated with the offshore wind sector, which is already bringing investment and long-term, sustainable jobs to Eyemouth and the potential for many more, driven by the needs of offshore wind developments up and down the UK coast.

“The new Eyemouth Harbour masterplan will aim to identify all opportunities in the short, medium, and long term, which will benefit not just those involved in the harbour, but also local communities and businesses and existing sectors such as fisheries, seafood processing and tourism.

“Working with partners, we look forward to supporting Eyemouth Harbour Trust on this hugely important masterplan.”

Eyemouth Harbour is a trust port, managed by a board of trustees. The purpose of the Trust is to maintain, preserve and improve Eyemouth Harbour for the benefit of stakeholders and the local community; whilst creating an important socio-economic legacy for the East Berwickshire area.