For hundreds of years Shoreham Port’s success has ebbed and flowed almost as much as the tide against the harbour walls.

And yesterday, it held a special fun day to mark 250 years of the ebb and flow of history.

Brighton crime writer Peter James officially opened the event and signed copies of a book about the port, which he wrote the introduction for.

Mr James said he had always been fascinated with the port, which had featured in a number of his books.

He said: “It has been in quite a few of my books.

I’ve dredged bodies up there and it will be the scene of the climax of the book I’m working on at the moment.

“It has always been a big part of Brighton’s criminal underworld, a big source of smuggling and contraband.

It has always been one of my favourite parts of the city.

From its earliest beginnings, which helped mark Shoreham as an area distinct from Brighton to the east and Worthing to the west, to the string of failed development plans, it has always played a pivotal role in the area’s history.

For more than a decade there has been talk of expanding the port.

The 1999 regeneration plan – the Shoreham Maritime project – fell by the wayside in 2005 when estimates for road improvements hit £200 million.

Regeneration

The plans were eventually superseded by a project from the South East England Development Agency (Seeda).

Working with West Sussex County Council, Adur District Council and Brighton and Hove City Council, the Shoreham Harbour Regeneration partnership hoped to build 10,000 homes and create up to 8,000 jobs at the harbour.

But last July, Seeda and the Homes and Communities Agency cancelled funding.

Adur District Council leader Neil Parkin said: “The original plans were to claim back a lot of land and build a huge number of homes.

“Those plans are gone but I am still keen to see the port regenerated.

“Indirectly, it employs a lot of people and historically it is very significant to the area.

“It is a prime area for regeneration and we are working to see what can be done.”

Before anyone thought of building homes on the harbour the busy port had been generating a bustling trade of imports and exports for centuries.

Celebration

This Sunday’s celebration will mark the first meeting of the Commissioners of Shoreham Harbour, but the port’s history goes back much further.

In Norman times, major wine imports and wool exports took place at the site.

The port may now be recognisable mainly by the looming shape of the cranes and the power station’s chimney but the eastern bank was made famous as early as the 1830s by landscape painter JMW Turner.

The harbour itself was built to stop the problem of longshore drift.

In the late 1800s, the gas works were built on the south bank of the canal followed shortly by an electricity generating station.

Towards the end of the First World War, the harbour became home to a pair of so-called mystery towers.

The concrete structures were intended to block German U-boats.

After the war, there was much discussion about what to do with the redundant structures.

In 1920, one of the towers was floated off to form a navigation station off the Isle of Wight.

The second tower was demolished and the broken up concrete used as foundations for local buildings, including many Worthing greenhouses.

In 1944, many troops heading for the D-Day landings in Normandy left from Shoreham.

In 1987, Brighton B Power station was closed.

Ten years later the final chimney was demolished and in 2004 the newpower station, owned by Scottish Power, opened at a cost of £150 million

What the future may hold for the port

In the next 15 years, Shoreham Port hopes to grow by 25%.

The Shoreham Port Authority has published a new master plan which sets out its proposals to make the eastern side of the harbour the focus for commercial operations.

A new access road is planned for the North Quayside, improving links to the harbour.

The Aldrington Basin has been identified as having the greatest potential for change and could be developed for either portrelated activities or new non-port related employment or housing.

The port authority wants to turn the Southwick Waterfront into a leisure area, with more marina berths and an important conservation area.

Southwick and Portslade beaches could be enhanced.

Development director Peter Davies said: “We want to look forward to the next 15 or 20 years.

“One of the main reasons we think it is really important to have the master plan is to inform our customers, tenants and local people about the future of the port.

“We have been going out and talking to people about what they want from the port and have tried to really listen.

“We feel the port has got a chance to grow and over the next 15 years it can grow by 25%.

That would be in terms of cargo and would generate up to 500 jobs at the port.”

There would also be other areas that could be considered for development.

Mr Davies said: “We are looking at increasing the amount of grain exports and bringing in new materials such as woodchips.”

He added that with Government plans for an offshore wind farm 20 miles out to sea between Brighton and Worthing, the port was also considering having its own renewable energy sources.

He said: “We have large areas of shed and warehouse roofs that would be suitable for solar panels.

Another thing we are considering is having wind turbines on the port itself to provide renewable energy for the area and cheaper power for the port itself.”

The master plan can be seen at the Holmbush shopping centre in Upper Shoreham Road tomorrow and during the anniversary celebrations at the port on Sunday.

Alternatively, visit www.shorehamport.

co.uk/Masterplan.

Present day

  • More than 1,000 ships use the port million.
  • every year, importing goods mainly from mainland Europe
  • Trade fell during the 1970s but the port is now working at full capacity
  • The port handles about 1.8 million tons of cargo a year, mainly aggregates, timber, cereals, steel, oil and fish
  • Because of the tides, small cargo ships have two six-hour windows each day to visit the port, meaning Shoreham cannot compete with Newhaven for cross-channel ferries
  • The port is still the most important in Sussex as it is the largest between Dover and Portsmouth, serving a hinterland of 400,000 people