Our Vision
FOR THE ANNAN HARBOUR AREA
Our Vision for Annan Harbour
Development of The Harbour Hub and the Ministers’ Merse.
Our business plan and vision builds on the acquisition and development of a historic warehouse adjacent to the quay (the Harbour Hub) along with an abandoned spit of land opposite the harbour (the Ministers Merse).
This will allow us to develop the Harbour as a high-profile visitor hub that will bring the area’s cultural and natural heritage to life and, in the longer term, transform the harbour basin to enable recreational and commercial boating activity.
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The Harbour Hub – a Maritime Heritage Centre
The Harbour Hub will be developed primarily as a Heritage Centre and Gathering Hub for both local residents and visitors.
Heritage exhibitions will focus on Annan’s fishing, shipping and boatbuilding history, and a boat workshop will allow local people and visitors to see and experience boatbuilding in action. Other exhibits will include:
Annan's Unique Haaf Net Fishing
A high quality interactive display with professional film and children’s activities
Fish and Ships
A museum style display of Annan’s maritime heritage
Annan's Smuggling Past
A museum style display of Annan’s smuggling past. Fun fact! Robert Burns was an exciseman patrolling the Annan / Gretna Solway shore and famously boarded the brig, ‘Rosamund’.
Annan's Coast and Place Names
An exhibition produced by the Solway Firth Partnership
The History Town Group of Annan is currently leading the development of ‘Annan: The History Town’, as part of the plans to aid Annan’s transformation into a popular visitor destination; the Maritime Heritage Centre will be a key element in these developments.
Please find an artist’s impression of how the Annan Harbour area will look once the developments are complete:
The Minister’s Merse and Harbour Basin
Key to the regeneration of the Harbour for the community is landscaping, access and public realm work on and around the Minister’s Merse and harbour basin.
This transformation will enable recreational and commercial boating activities such as: canoeing, rowing, dinghy sailing, water skills training, leisure boat launching, local sightseeing boat trips and small-scale commercial fishing.
At present, the harbour basin is cut off from the main river channel by the Minister’s Merse and is affected by tidal variations and silting, making it difficult to navigate by boat. Plans have been developed by Harrison Stevens Landscape Architects that will create an active harbour edge encouraging water sports. These plans include:
Increasing The Water Flow
The addition of an open or culvert connection at the northern end of the Merse will increase the flow of water through the harbour.
A Non-tidal Lagoon
This will provide safer access to the water, encouraging more people to get involved in watersports and making the area suitable for introductory and improvers’ courses.
Building a Pontoon
To provide access for watersports and two temporary mooring points for small visiting boats.
Equipment Storage
Storage will be added near the water’s edge for rowing boats, canoes, kayaks and paddle boards.
Travel Connections
Travel to, from, and around the harbour will be a key priority, with the addition of a bridge onto the Minister’s Merse extending an existing 5km walk route around the town. The plans connect Annan Harbour to established cycle networks and tourist trails and encourage visitors to the harbour to continue into the town centre.
Celebration of Biodiversity
Any plans for the site will maintain and enhance the area’s biodiversity.
An ecological survey showed that Annan Harbour is not within a designated site, but is upstream of three such sites: the Upper Solway Flats and Marshes Special Protection Area (SPA); the Solway Firth Special Area of Conservation (SAC); and the Upper Solway Flats and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).
The development of the harbour and Minister’s Merse will not adversely impact any of these designated statuses, and a section of the Minister’s Merse will remain as wild habitat suited to wading birds. This area will not be accessed by footpaths, although visitors to the harbour will be able to view wildlife from walkways and birdwatching hides. Bat and bird boxes will also be included as part of development, and planting suited to the coastal environment will attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies.
The Annan Harbour Redevelopment Project
Architect
Development Consultant
Landscape Architect
Environmental Consultant
Consulting Engineers
Valuers
Heritage Interpretation
Quantity Surveyor
Services Engineer
Asbestos Survey
Our Funders & Partners
Our funders and partners invest in us to support our local community and in the continued work to regenerate Annan Harbour. By doing so they continue to recognise the value of this work and the importance of community-led regeneration.
