THE owners of Aberystwyth marina have announced a long-awaited dredging campaign but remain tight-lipped over delayed restaurant plans.

Unpaid staff, impounded equipment, furious boat owners and fiery social media spats have left the reputation of the Marine and Property Group Ltd ‘near the point of no return,’ as the Cambrian News reported earlier this month.

The firm – which has owned the Y Lanfa marina for eight years – has been called on to ‘throw in the towel’ and give up its lease after the catalogue of failures and controversies.

A source close to the marina also claimed it was in the worst condition it had been since it opened roughly 30 years ago.

But the company took to Facebook to issue the following statement: “We are pleased to confirm that we have programmed a full maintenance dredging campaign which is scheduled to complete by the 15 May this year.

“As Aberystwyth is now a busy marina, we ask for your help and support if the marina team ask you to move your boat to another area of the marina for a short time while the dredging campaign takes place.

“We have reserved budgets and are currently agreeing a building contract for the proposed restaurant unit conversion works on the ground floor of Harbour House.

“We will update you on the work timetable as soon as possible.

“Following the success of last year’s Street Food Festival, we can confirm that it will return this year in an even bigger and better format. The exact date is to be confirmed but it will be during August. We will announce more details on this and other upcoming events soon.”

The new restaurant formed a major part of the marina redevelopment plans which are funded by £10.8million of so-called Levelling Up funding from the UK Government.

In January 2019, the Marine Group promised ‘significant investment’ including building a coffee shop and restaurant.

But little progress, if any, appears to have been made since then.

Commenting on social media, one person said: “This all sounds great. I loved the festival last year. But the restaurant is probably close to two years behind schedule and a lot of what’s been reported online has been damning at best for the Marine Group. How can we dream that this post will come to fruition?”