Plans for a 600-berth marina with on-shore facilities for athletes taking part in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sailing events have been unveiled.
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Work will start on
Portland Marina at Osprey Quay, in the spring next year, if planning permission is granted, and will be finished by the end of 2008.
If it goes to plan, Portland in Dorset will be the first in England to build a permanent facility for the 2012 Games.
Weymouth and Portland in Dorset have been selected for the sailing events.
A spokeswoman for the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), which owns the site, said: "It will then be the first permanent facility being built for the Olympics to be completed in the whole of the country."
The plans include a 600-berth marina, sheltered by a stone breakwater made largely from local Portland stone.
There will also be an on-shore reception centre with washrooms, showers and laundry facilities and a restaurant bar overlooking the harbour.
The multi-million-pound project is privately funded and will be constructed and operated by Dean and Reddyhoff, which already owns and operates three other marinas on the south coast.
It is hoped the project will create up to 1,000 jobs in an area which lost 800 jobs when its Royal Naval Air Station closed in 1999.
The proposal is set to be submitted to planners and the Harbour Authority by the end of March 2007.
Story from BBC NEWS
Published: 2007/02/10 16:29:04 GMT
