Ramsey Marina Limited has announced that its plans now include ‘an artificial reef powered by renewable energy’, with the project now being branded an ‘eco-marina’.

Its plans have seen strong opposition from local residents since they were announced, with a ‘Save the Bay’ group gaining more than 2,000 members.

Ramsey Marina Ltd amended its plans last September to address concerns, rotating the proposed marina by 90 degrees and cut its size from 12 to seven hectares – however the group still remained opposed.

With this latest announcement RML stated that work on the £100m project is expected to start ‘within the next two years’.

Promoted as ‘the first ever deep-water marina planned for the Irish Sea’, RML said that the 400 berth marina is ‘designed to be as ecologically sensitive as possible’.

It also includes residential and commercial property development (including a hotel and restaurants), a yacht repair yard and leisure facilities.

Plans are said to include the incorporation of new reefs, seagrass meadows, electric vessel and vehicle charging, and ‘eco-concrete’.

The reef would be built by CCell Renewables, a British clean technology company, which has now started a nine-month trial of its reef technology in Douglas harbour.

A statement from RML says: ‘CCell’s reef will be placed at the base of the marina breakwater to protect the marina walls from erosion (scour protection) and to create a new habitat that will enhance marine biodiversity.

‘As part of its work, CCell will be testing the integration of used scallop shells within the reef and, in due course, used mussel shells, both by-products from the island’s fishing industry.

‘Around the reefs, and across Ramsey Bay, it is planned that seagrass will also be regenerated, in partnership with the Ocean Conservation Trust in Plymouth’.

RML said in September that residents’ concern about seagrass growing on the site was that unfounded, and that none was growing on the site, only seeding at Queen’s Pier.

‘As well as seagrass growth, CCell’s reef is also expected to boost the numbers and varieties of fish in Isle of Man waters,’ RML stated.

The company explained how CCell’s reef will work: ‘CCell will use energy from onshore solar installations and hi-tech electronics to create the artificial reef. CCell uses pulses of solar energy to drive an electrolytic process to extract seawater minerals that in turn causes the growth of mineral rock around a steel frame that forms the backbone of the reef. This allows lightweight and intricate reef profiles to be created and placed around the marina, providing natural protection against the sea.’