The West End Development Corporation has met with environmental groups concerning a proposal to develop a new marina.

Stuart Hayward, the chairman of BEST, said the meeting, which took place late last year was a “healthy and positive” step by Wedco in determining the direction of the project.

“What we are hoping is that they have considered our concerns that we raised when they were first proposing a marina,” Mr Hayward said. “They haven’t indicated that to us yet and we may not know until the application goes to planning, but I think it’s a good sign. I think it’s healthy.

“It’s an evolution of the process and that’s important because its collaborative rather than taking an automatic adversarial position.”

The multi-phased marina project, which was to include nine acres of land reclamation and around 200 slips in an area between South Basin and Ireland Island South was approved by the Cabinet in October of 2009.

The first phase of the proposal includes a nine-acre site with a variety of amenities suitable for a marina, with landfill for the land reclamation coming from the dredging of the North and South Channels.

Then-premier Dr Ewart Brown said the project create a major asset for the tourism industry, but BEST expressed serious concerns about the potential impact of the proposal, saying the marina would be built on one of the richest environmental areas on the Island.