Holyhead Marina to rebuild months after Storm Emma

Work has started to rebuild a storm-savaged marina five months on from the damage.

Holyhead Marina was hit by Storm Emma in March damaging 80 boats, several of which sank.

In May, Anglesey Council received £100,000 from the Welsh Government towards the cost of a clean up, which is now complete.

The marina owners said they were moving on to the next stage of rebuilding and preparing for future storms.

Director of the company Geoff Garrod said he was "pretty optimistic" about its future and they were salvaging some of the marina components from the seabed.

"The landing stage is being rebuilt from salvaged and repaired components," he said.

"Some parts of the marina were not damaged during the storm, so it made sense for us to reuse them."

So far, the marina has 160m of docking space for boats, which will increase to 200m by this weekend.

"It's essential for boats on passage that it's back up and running," he added.

"The marina is accessible 24 hours a day. There is nowhere else like it; nowhere so well connected to the rest of the UK. It's such a great gateway into Wales."

However, Mr Garrod said there had been bigger strategic issues that need to be addressed.

"With climate change, storms are becoming more frequent, so we commissioned experts to analyse Storm Emma so that we can be prepared if something similar happens in the future," he said.

"It's a good opportunity for everyone in the area to rebuild together.

"We've set up a port users association, and we think we can make a forum where we can come up with shore and land based projects."