A councillor said that a fresh look at developing Barry's docks after the town missed out on tens of millions of pounds in levelling up funding should focus on celebrating its heritage. The area of the docks known as The Mole would have been turned into a new marina if the Vale of Glamorgan Council had been successful in its bid for £20 million in UK Government funding.
Part of the council's masterplan included developing the nearby waterfront into a new water sports facility. On the plans for The Mole, Vale of Glamorgan Council ward member for Baruc, Councillor Mark Hooper, said: "One of the things that the marina was missing was any reflection of the heritage of the place."
In 1913, Barry Docks was the largest coal export port in the world, with 11 million tonnes of coal passing through the port in that year. The Mole, part of Barry number one dock, was one of the locations where the coal would be loaded on to the ships from the trains.
