I think a few things need to be made clear following the below persons post.
Firstly the person posting, is a resident at the marina, and has been there for several years. During this time, he has been spoken to multiple times regarding breaches of yard regulations, including health and safety breaches, refsual of a directors instruction to remove objects around his boat that could be considered a fire hazzard, inconsiderate behavior, as well as trading in the yard for his own gain which is prohibited. It is a working boatyard, not a home and buisness location.
regarding the electric cables over the ground in the yard, everyone can see its a working boat yard. anyone that is caught with cables running over the road is spoken to and asked to remove it. however the owners cannot be around all the time to check every cable every minute of the day. cables obiouslly lie on the ground between meters and boxes.
It is a working boatyard and a DIY yard, any contractors that come on site are required to show public liability insurance. one welder was recently stopped from welding in the yard, due to no public liability, and not competent, as proved when that boat went in the water, and started taking on water. The incompetent welder the poster reffers to, repaired the work and the boat is sitting happily on the other side (floating) the yard requires screens to be put up, as is documented in the information sheet provided to customers. anyone found to be welding without screens are spoken to as well.
the yard has existed for 30 years with no lighting in the hardstanding area, as above, its not meant to be a home, however as more people are liveaboard when the boat comes out of the water in recent weeks we have been looking at ways to add lighting without dispruting craning locations. this is in conjunction with replacing and repairng light fittings and cables that were inherited with the yard. this is a difficult task, and a long task as having to trace each circut and we have been working on for some time.
Potholes are always a problem, however you need to bear in mind there is a 40 ton crane moving several days a week, which makes keeping the potholes in order impossible. HSE have confirmed that they dont expect the yard to be clear of potholes due to the nature of the buisness, however we attempt when possible to use a digger to plane over the top to smooth out the area. since the poster has been in the yard, this has been done 3 times, and almost always within a month they are back to the orgininal state.
Regarding the crane slings, they are inspected before each lift for problems, and a crane maintance checklist is completed, and filled in each month. this along with 6 monthly insurance inspections does mean that the crane is fit for purpose, and any accusation to the contary are unfounded and their own opinion. The certificates for the crane are infact displayed in the shop!
if you compare the prices to other chandlers, eg midland chandlers, prices are comparabe, yes you can get things cheaper on ebay, but you get everything cheaper online.
The prices for hardstanding have not been increased since at least 2008, the prices are the same as the previous owner of the yard charged. bearing in mind costs increase, no price increase for over 6 years? the comment of "its now" implies there has been a recent price increase. which there clearly hasnt been!
The welder on site is competent, as an above poster said, they had their boat welded by him. he has done multiple jobs for insurance companys all to a good standerd, if he were not competent, would surveyors down there recomend him? and would the yard let him weld? no is the answer to both questions.
The website cleary says it is a DIY boatyard, facilities include can mean either provided, which some we dont provide, or allowed at the yard. if people dont ask the questions and assume... well as the saying goes, assumption is the mother of all f**kups.
The yard as the OP says is a DIY yard, it has never provided a boat fit out waste disposal, and has only provided domestic and recylcing. DIY does include your own rubbish removal. and the information provided to customers has stated that for years.
I find it curious that "the owners have said they will not spend a single penny on the yard" is said, when new lights went up last week, before the date of OP's post! one of the shower cubicles was repaired a couple of days ago, and a new shower put up 2 months ago, washing machines and tumble dryer is replaced almost as soon as they go wrong. do these actons say no money is being spent? Perhaps you should look around before blatently lying.
Also refferal to "harrasement" is quite intresting. it is very comman that people are spoken to for breaches of the rules, and also being phoned for hardstanding payments when they get into large arrers. both of which isnt harrasment, if they wernt breaching the rules, or defaulting on payments, they wouldnt be spoken to. Yes the owners son can be abrubt, but what isnt known is that he is autistic, and has to run the yard during the week. And most people are happy with how he does things, and infact is a stickler for the rules, due to the nature of black and white, no reading between the lines. But also if there is a problem, he trys to sort it out as quickly as possible.
There is a local place down in leighton, 5 miles away that offer similar services. i call that competition.
Unforutnatlly, the yard has to deal with people like the OP working against the yard. piles of mess he reffers to are mainly around his boat. blocking electric points with push bikes. when attempting to clear them, he says leave it as he wants the wood from them.
I think enough has been said. If people wish to speculate that is fine, but until they have been to the yard, or spoken with us directly which we will be happy to answer any questions, there have been changes over the years, some good, and yes some bad. However as the new owners took a loan out to buy the place to save it from deveolpment, and to keep the services the yard had been offering for 30 + years, cashflow is tight. due to loan repayments. it should be appreciated that they risked themselves, their home, etc to keep the facilitys available rather than prevent it from being removed and another working boatyard lost!