A GROUP of fishermen are trying to secure £1.5million of funding to make old Leigh a viable fishing village for the next 50 years.

The Leigh Port Partnership, a group set up by fishermen to apply for the European funding, wants to dredge silt from the creek, re-routing it back along the cockle sheds and introducing blue mussels to the foreshore.

Fishermen have long expressed concerns for the future viability of the industry in Leigh, which is threatened by the steady build-up of silt in the creek, and two boats have already been lost to the Kent coast, where the water is deeper and the catch more bountiful.

The money would also go towards building a proper quayside behind Simply Seafood, which is laid with an uneven floor of crushed cockle shells.

Leigh councillor Peter Wexham, who fished for shrimp, Dover sole and soft coral in the area from the Sixties to the Eighties, said: “If we don’t get this money eventually, the worst case scenario is that the boats will go somewhere else, probably to the Kent coast, where they can still fish.

“That would be the end of it down here as a fishing port – at the moment it’s a working fishing village but, if we don’t get the bids, it could just be a few yachtsmen, pubs and museums telling people about how wonderful it was when people went fishing.”

Michael Bates, of Fruits of the Sea Ltd, fishes cockles in Leigh and muscles in the Crouch with his boats the Charlotte Joan and the Revenge.

He said: “It would be great if we could get the funding to get the creek dredged because it’s been talked about many times over a number of years and would be wonderful for the fishing industry and the marina.

“We can hardly use our dock behind the cockle sheds because of how it is now, so we have to unload at Bell Wharf, which is a bit of a bottle-neck.”

Paul Gilson, joint chairman of Leigh and Southend Fishermen’s Association, said dredging the creek was long overdue.

He said: “After the battle of Dungeness with the Dutch in 1652, the fleet came to Leigh to be refitted because it was better than Chatham – but the idea of a 135ft gun deck coming through here nowwould be ridiculous.

“It’s also important to diversify the catch by introducing blue mussel because, although cockle fishing is successful, it’s only for 40 days a year and, if we had a cold winter and lost the stock, there’s nothing else for the fishermen to turn to.”

The partnership must submit the bid by January and, if successful, will receive the funding in April.

PLAN HELD BACK BY PROHIBITIVE COSTS IN THE PAST

DREDGING the creek is not a new idea but the prohibitive cost of research has held back progress.

Southend Council spent £80,000 on a feasibility study 18 years ago, but was not willing to spend the £120,000 the research said was needed for further study.

This was because, although dredging was the council’s responsibility, it was not a statutory requirement and therefore it was under no obligation to do it.

Part of the £1.5m funding the fishermen are applying for would go towards paying for this further research, as well as the cost of actually dredging the creek and rerouting it back along the cockle sheds, after it “meandered” away over the decades.

The funding could also enable fishermen to pay for the special orders from the Government needed to set up mussel fisheries, which could then be recouped by issuing licenses such as those issued by the Kent and Essex Inshore Fisheries Conservation Area for cockling at £5,000 a year.

The cost of setting up sheds and marketing the mussels once harvested would also be covered by the grant as well as the extensive ecological studies, which would need to be seen by Natural England before the plan could even be approved.

HOW AN EU GRANT COULD MAKE ITS WAY TO LEIGH

THE grant the fishermen are applying for comes from the European Union and would be handled by the Leigh Port Partnership, which is a private company limited by guarantee.

A Fisheries Local Action Group, which is a partnership between fishermen and other interested parties, such as the council, is required before the funding can be awarded and this body is responsible for setting out the plan for what will be done with the money.

The funding, if the bid is successful, is distributed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund from Brussels to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which in turn distributes it to the successful applicants.