NEYLAND Marina’s ability to do business may be affected if it is unable to carry out dredging work this winter as a result of conditions in its marine licence.

An appeal hearing is due to be held on Tuesday, January 29 into what Neyland Yacht Haven describes as “onerous” conditions within the licence it has been granted by Natural Resources Wales to dredge silt from Westfield Pill.

In a letter of appeal written to Welsh Government’s marine policy branch on behalf of Neyland Yacht Haven, Paris Smith Solicitors outlined what changes the company wants to see to its licence.

“There is a clear danger NYH will be unable to comply with these conditions and be unable to dredge this winter which will have a major impact on its business as detailed further on in these grounds,” the letter said.

The solicitor writes that two clauses in the current licence, which came into force on October 1 last year, are unreasonable.

One of these clauses require company to submit a report to NRW which “re-analyses existing monitoring data” of the effects dredging has on the riverbed six months before any work takes place.

Neyland Yacht Haven has argued looking at the data in a different way to how it is currently analysed is NRW moving the goalposts of what is required, and will not change the report’s outcome.

The letter says the company is reliant on specialist scientists to look at the data it collects, who take time to carry out their work and that the deadline NRW has set is “unworkable”.

This deadline means the company will not be able to carry out dredging over the 2018-19 winter period, leading to a build-up of silt which could be expensive to get rid of in the future.

The hearing for the appeal will take place on Tuesday, January 29 from 10am at the Bridge Innovation Centre, Pembroke Dock.