Abandoned boat to be moved from Dundrum Bay

Abandoned boat to be moved from Dundrum Bay

ATTEMPTS are to be made to move an abandoned boat which has become one of the worst eyesores off the County Down coast.

The motor cruiser was towed into Dundrum Inner Bay several years and moored just a hundred yards off the village quay. Since then it has deteriorated badly and no longer floats when the tide comes in.

After complaints from local people, and concerns that people have been climbing onto the large craft, a salvage expert is to be appointed by Down Council in a bid to get the boat removed.

The council is trying to identify the owner of the boat and if this is not possible officials will determine the most cost effective way of removing the boat.

The move has been welcomed by local councillor Patrick Clarke who said the boat will be assessed by a salvage expert on behalf of Down District Council to establish whether it can be floated and transported out of Dundrum Bay.

“Whilst to some people the abandoned boat looks rather attractive where it has been lying for a good number of years the fact remains that the abandoned boat has caused problems for people trying to navigate their boats during high tide into and out of Dundrum Bay so it really is in the best interests that Council take the lead and remove the abandoned boat in the near future," he said.

“For a considerable while I have also received complaints from Dundrum constituents and residents living in the nearby Quay development of holiday homes and apartments who live beside the abandoned boat which seems to have been left by the owner to go to wreck and ruin.”