Regeneration and territorial integration of port areas in transition

Activity 1 targets the physical regeneration of port areas in decline to once again integrate them in the local territorial structure and restore and boost their economic vitality. It concentrates on specific sites covered by Transcoast, in different stages of the regeneration process and with specific but complementary challenges:

The following partners and their projects will be involved in this activity team:

• Syndicat Mixte Dunkerque Neptune - Reconversion into a marina of a derelict harbour area bordering the town centre and renewal of outdated, sub-standard marina facilities and creation of a harbour office.
• Municipality of Hulst - Study into the possibilities and feasibility of transformation of Walsoorden Harbour, a disused industrial/fishing harbour.
• Municipailty of Tholen - Improve access to the marina in Sint Annaland to strengthen its integration into the spatial structure of the village.
• Municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland - Design and partial implementation of masterplan for transformation of a disused port basin and adjacent Havenplein square in Zierikzee.
• Colchester Borough Council - Create easy and safe access to and docking facilities on the currently inaccessible Colne river in the town centre at Kind Edward Quay.
• Municipality of Sluis - Creating functional links between the Breskens and Cadzand marinas and adjacent towns by access routes and high quality public space on both sites.

This activity team will implement the following actions:

1. Action planning: Analysis of regeneration challenges and schemes by expert staff of JAT1 partners, resulting in action plans for each site listing recommendations and guidance for next steps.
2. Implementation of specific steps/measures for each site (from action plans), ranging from feasibility study, targeted investments in access and territorial integration, to investments in specific elements of wider regeneration schemes.
3. Cross border support delegations of 2 or 3 JAT1 members assist each partner during implementation, providing on-demand expertise. During a site visit they give further on-the-spot guidance. Delegations will be agreed in step a) by complementarity and expertise.
4. Evaluation and synthesis: Implementation of the action plans is evaluated by the support delegations. Their reports are aggregated by JAT1, presenting lessons from the implementation stage and extracting generic tools and approaches that will be of use for other actors in this field.
5. Development of a model to predict and demonstrate economic impact of investments in port regeneration. It will be a fact based, building on demonstrated impacts of completed transformations and on cost-benefit and feasibility analyses carried out by partners. It will be applied to the Transcoast partner sites to validate the model.

Main aim of this JAT:

Many port areas in decline are situated on prime locations inside or near town centres. When they lose their functional relevance these areas often turn from vibrant focal points of economic activity into unattractive, often poorly integrated parts of town, with little economic dynamism.

The aim of this Activity is to empower the local authorities responsible for such areas to identify and implement the most effective means to regenerate them and to integrate them once more in the local territorial structure.

This aim is achieved by:

• cross border action planning and implementation of regeneration and territorial integration on different Transcoast partners sites.  
• identification of generic tools and approaches for regeneration and territorial integration for use by other actors in this field.
• development of an economic impact modelling tool to support port regeneration decision makers with essential intelligence on the economic impact of investments.

Expected outcomes:

• cross border action plans for 7 Transcoast sites produced
• regeneration / territorial integration measures implemented on 6 Transcoast sites  
• feasibility study delivered for 1 Transcoast site  
• synthesis report presenting a set of generic tools and approaches for port regeneration developed
• economic impact model developed and validated

Read Joint Activity Team Two - Port Safety