£1.4 million barge scrapped

BRISTOL City Council paid £1.4m in 2019 for a barge that is to be scrapped!

It is at present in a dry dock where it will be broken up and sold as scrap, reports Janet Friend.

Only alternative

Though the council bought the barge Ebenhaezeas a recent survey discovered that the boat was in such poor condition that it is no longer safe, so being scrapped is the only alternative.

The barge was moored by Bristol Bridge, but was moved to Albion Dock for the survey, where it will be broken up

The council had paid the money for the barge and mooring rights from a private owner as it was in the way of a development of former warehouses at Welsh Back.

The developers told they would not go ahead with the regeneration of the buildings if the boat was still there, leaving the council with no option but to buy the barge so that the development could go ahead, the council believing that buying Ebenhaezer and its mooring rights was the best way to break the impasse.

The fear

The fear was that if developers pulled out of the deal, the council would need to pay to repair the largely derelict buildings.

As to the development, there have been plenty of ideas but nothing has actually been built.