Question and Answer
Last Update – 20/08/2024. These FAQ’s will be amended to incorporate any future changes to the project.
The team and our plans
What experience does the new team have to develop this site?
Our team’s experience includes the construction of Battersea Power Station, the Olympic Village in Stratford and several large-scale mixed-use developments in Deptford, Hackney, Wembley and Lambeth.
What is being built on the site?
The Hayle North Quay development is the largest regeneration project in the Cornwall area. When complete, it will deliver 520 new homes, including affordable housing, alongside new shops, office and industrial spaces, a hotel, community facilities and a sports hub.
When did the development receive planning permission?
The proposals received planning permission by Cornwall Council in April 2021
How many homes are you building as part of this development?
The development will include a total of 520 homes across the various areas of the site.
The new homes will be located at:
The Wharf – 143 homes
The Yard – 60 homes
Chieftan’s Yard – 32 homes
Hilltop – 31 homes
Riviere – 254 homes
What is your provision of affordable homes?
93 homes (17.9%)
Do you have planning permission for the site?
The majority of the site has full, detailed planning permission. Land at Hilltop is currently subject to a reserved matters planning application which is undergoing review by Cornwall Council.
Will you be making any changes to the existing planning permission?
The site will be developed in line with the consented masterplan. We are conducting a review of the proposals to inform a delivery strategy. This may include making some minor amendments to the plans. As part of this, we are also looking at where we may be able to improve the overall development. Any minor amendments to our proposals will be subject to consultation with the local community.
The site
Where is the site located?
The site, situated within the Cornwall and West Devon Mining Landscape World Heritage Site. The site totals a gross area of 127.31 acres and compromises a mixture of brownfield and greenfield land. The site includes the following areas: North Quay, East Quay. Harvey Towans Car Park, Harvey Towans Chalets, as well as 58.1 acres of farmland. |
What surrounds the site?
The site sits next to Copperhouse Pool and is in close proximity to Hayle Beach. The site is surrounded by various local businesses and sports club, such as Hayle Cricket Club, the Hayle Watersports Centre, and Hayle Swimming Pool. The site is also within close proximity to various residential dwellings and farmland areas towards the north of the site.
Who is responsible for managing the completed blocks in the development?
Rendall & Rittner, a leading property management agency, has been appointed to manage the completed blocks and estate. This will ensure a pro-active approach to development maintenance and effective communication to residents.
Timeline & Construction
How much of the development is already complete?
So far 46 homes have been built and occupied, there are 12 more homes currently under construction as part of the next phase, which are due for completion at the start of 2025. We are conducting a review of future phases to accelerate delivery.
When will the development be complete?
This is a complex development with multiple phases. With our new experienced team we are currently exploring how the development can be accelerated and we will update our timescales accordingly.
What will be the construction vehicle routes in and out of the site?
Vehicle access will be via the two existing junctions to the existing site area will be provision of a single access for vehicles to the Site compound from North Quay Road.
What is the Construction operation times for the site?
08.00-18.00 Monday to Friday
08-00-13.00 Saturdays
No work takes place on Sundays and Bank Holidays without prior approval.
How will you ensure the local businesses and neighbourhoods are not affected during the construction period?
The site is managed by a construction management plan, which is attached to the planning permission.
Dredging
Who is responsible for dredging the harbour?
The Hayle Harbour Authority.
Why does the harbour need dredging?
Dredging is needed to provide a safe channel for fishing and sailing boats to navigate, it maximises the flow of the tide to naturally flush the channel, maintaining the estuary’s ecosystem, the SSSI and nearby RSPB reserve as well as contributing towards managing flood risk.
What will happen to the harbour if dredging does not take place?
Sands will shift into the harbour channel making the harbour potentially dangerous and difficult to navigate for vessels.
It also significantly narrows the time period in which vessels can leave/enter the harbour restricting livelihoods.
If regular dredging does not happen the nearby RSPB bird reserve could become unstable, as it relies on a balanced and stable flow of water.
Allowing the channel to become built up with sand also reduces the estuary’s capacity to handle tidal flows and storm surges, increasing the likelihood of flooding.
What does dredging look like, how is the work undertaken, where is the sand removed from?
Sand is being cleared with machinery and carried away in trucks. This means we can target specific areas at low water.
Dredging is taking place in four zones:
– The Inner Harbour up to the harbour wall
– The approach channel
– Hayle Bar
– Lelant
Sand will be dredged to the depth outlined on an admiralty chart as this specifies what the level should be for navigation. Dredging will need to continue to meet these levels.
What is the Hayle Harbour Act and how does it relate to dredging?
The Hayle Harbour Act was passed in 1989 and serves as an act to establish the Hayle Harbour Company as a harbour authority, which enables them to operate certain construction works in the harbour. This work includes dredging the local harbour, to maintain navigational safety for vessels using the harbour.
How often does dredging need to take place?
It takes place two to four times per month, subject to the tide.
What times of day does dredging take place?
Dredging needs to take place during low tide, which varies each week. During summertime when we anticipate the beach be subject to more intense use, dredging has taken place outside of peak times, such as in the early morning, to avoid any disturbance to beachgoers.
How do you ensure dredging is undertaken safely?
Further permanent signage has been installed alerting members of the public to dredging activities, advising them to take caution. A banksman will now accompany all further dredging activities to ensure a safe distance is maintained between members of the public and machinery.
What happens to the sand after it is removed?
Dredged sand is stored in the sand yard at North Quay. It is then cleaned and left to dry out. Once dry, it is then sold to local businesses.
What is the sold sand used for?
Historically sand has been used in the farming industry, but it is also used in construction, for textured paint, arts and crafts supplies, playgrounds and cat litter.
What happens to the income from the sale of the sand?
This is reinvested back into harbour to support the costs of maintaining and operating the harbour. It does not go back into the development at North Quay. The proceeds made from the sale of sand do not come close to covering the Harbour’s operating costs.
How do you monitor how much sand you take?
This is reinvested back into harbour to support the costs of maintaining and operating the harbour. It does not go back into the development at North Quay. The proceeds made from the sale of sand do not come close to covering the Harbour’s operating costs.
Why can’t you rebuild more of the beach at Harvey Towens car park?
Every month the harbour takes a record of how much sand is removed.
Every year a survey is taken to map the depths and shapes of underwater terrain. We aim to sample the sand twice per year to make sure it’s of the highest quality.
The harbour also takes drone and timeline photography to monitor the navigational channels.
Additional monitoring of coastal processes is also being undertaken by other organisations such as Plymouth University.
What type or colour of sand can you expect to remove whilst dredging?
There is not one colour of sand you expect to see when undertaking dredging. Because sands drift frequently into the channel it will be common to see pale coloured sand extracted from the harbour.
What are the environmental impacts of dredging?
The harbour has not been made aware of any specific impacts on the environment. However, the harbour is looking to undertake further studies with specialist consultants to understand this more.
Are there any other indirect environmental impacts?
There are currently no known indirect impacts from dredging other than the potential for water levels to be lowered at low tide creating more inter-tidal area being created.
Are there known environmental impacts on St Ives Bay?
No, there are no known environmental impacts on St Ives Bay.
There is an area of rock exposed which used to be covered in sand, has dredging caused this?
No, Hayle forms part of a sand cell travelling from Land’s End to Bristol and sand moves in and around that cell naturally. This can be evidenced by the photo below.
Sluicing
What is sluicing?
Sluicing involves allowing the tide to rise, filling the Carnsew sluice pool to the highest level before the tide turns. The water is then held in the pool for three hours after high tide before being released through the Carnsew tunnel penstock sluice gates to flush out any sediment build-up, that can be bought into suspension maintaining the channel.
Historically sluicing took place from both Copperhouse and Carnsew pools – but it is no longer possible to sluice from both as the Copperhouse gate is now part of the flood defence for Hayle and is controlled by the Environment agency.
Does sluicing still happen in Hayle Harbour?
Yes, but it is currently limited from one pool (Carnsew) and only between April and August. As the pool is owned by the RSPB and impounding water during the winter months would cover the feeding ground for the overwintering birds, which is why sluicing can only be used for 5months of the year As such it does not clear the channel to the levels required, which is why dredging is needed as well.
There are two possible ways to sluice Hayle Estuary from Carnsew Pool, the first from the Carnsew Tunnels, which comprise 4 sluice gates (shown in the image at the end of this document) and the second from the Carnsew Mitre Gates.
The Mitre Gates cannot be operated by hand and require a costly upgrade as no platform was included in their design and they are also overtopped by water on the higher spring tides preventing them from being automated, so these gates have never been opened.
Why is it not possible to sluice from Copperhouse pool?
Copperhouse pool is now part of the flood defence for Hayle and is now controlled by the Environment Agency, not the harbour. A trial indicated that sluicing could damage the bearings in the flood defence as the fast flow of water caused the gate to vibrate violently.
The Environment Agency advised that it would cost £200,000 to replace the bearings to allow sluicing, which the Harbour cannot afford.
Notwithstanding the additional cost, there are other reasons why sluicing cannot happen from Copperhouse pool:
– The pools have silted reducing their capacity to hold water
– The pools contain heavy metals due to contaminated mine waste
– Hayle swimming pool has been built over part of the sluice
Why is it not possible to use sluicing as a method to clear the channel rather than dredging?
– As outlined above it is not be possible to operate sluicing from the two pools, which would be needed for the sluicing to replace dredging in its entirety.
– Sluicing would not be as effective as it has been historically, as there are no longer large vessels navigating the harbour channel. Larger vessels were more effective at loosening sediment which would be carried away through sluicing. Now, sediment is hard-packed and small vessels currently using the harbour are ineffective at loosening sediment enough for it to be flushed into St Ives Bay.
– It is possible to loosen sediment with machinery to then prepare for sluicing but this operation is costly and it will create a sand bank in an area where dredging has been completed, which is a significant safety issue and could cause vessels to run aground.
– Sluicing can only take place between April and August as the RSPB restricts sluicing operations for feeding grounds of overwintering birds. The harbour would not get permission to sluice outside of this window.
What else needs to be considered when sluicing?
A sluicing protocol is followed by the Harbour Authority, Natural England, the RSPB and the Environment Agency to protect the Hayle Estuary and Carrack Gladden SSSI. This restricts activity to preserve the estuary.
Like with dredging sluicing is also closely monitored by stakeholders.
Local businesses and the community at North Quay
What local businesses are currently at North Quay?
We have two local businesses currently in residence Toad Coffee and Gilberts Beach Bar & Kitchen. Gilberts has operated from Hayle North Quay since June 2024. The business is operating from two shipping containers and has an aim to help tackle anti-social behaviour in the local area. The operators have granted the business an 18-month lease to operate on the site.
Escape to the Sauna will soon be launching at the beach – stay tuned.
I have a local business, how can I partner with Hayle North Quay?
If you would like to speak to us about partnership opportunities please email us at hello@haylenorthquay.co.uk.
How are you supporting the community?
We are always looking for new opportunities to support the local community.
There will be community space delivered as part of the development and we’re keen to hear from potential occupiers.
We have been engaging with the Devon & Cornwall Police assisting in there ‘Deferred Charge Programme’ which provides opportunities for offenders to give back to their local community.
In August we held a beach clean with Clean Cornwall, Gilberts Bar & Kitchen and Cornish Oven. Over 29 bags of rubbish were collected. We hope to do this every quarter, to be notified of future events, please sign up to our mailing list.
We are exploring opportunities with Escape to the Sauna to offer a free to use sauna to the community once per month.
Parking
Who are the operators for the parking spaces?
A new car park operator has been appointed to manage Harvey Towans Car Park and Parking along North Quay Road.
How do people pay for parking?
Via an app
What are the operating times?
24 hours
Other
What is happening to the boat that has recently sunk?
Over the past couple of weeks, our team at the harbour has taken proactive steps to manage the situation with the vessel Sarah. After receiving notifications from concerned members of the public, we pumped out the vessel and moved it to the bank to prevent further safety risks.
At the end of August, the harbour will be craning the vessel out from the harbour for safety purposes. It’s important to remind all registered vessel owners that they are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of their boats while moored in the Harbour.
We have been in touch with the registered owner of Sarah and are working together towards its removal.
Safety remains our top priority, and we appreciate the community’s ongoing support and cooperation.