A MAN who lives on his boat at a marina in Pwllheli worries he will become homeless after the monthly cost of paying for his residency there almost doubled.

Stuart Spray, 75, lives on his boat at the yard at Hafan Pwllheli marina, having been based there for the last eight years since he sailed there from Dover.

Mr Spray said he pays a daily yard charge, which is based on the boat size, for his 40-foot sailboat, which used to amount to an approximate monthly payment of £250.

But he said that, from April 1, these charges have risen to the extent that he is now likely to have to pay almost £500 each month.

Mr Spray said he has nowhere else to live and will not continually be able to afford these new charges at the yard of the marina, a popular yachting venue based by the Llŷn Peninsula.

He said: “I was paying roughly £250 a month for the yard space, which includes the hire of a cradle as well, but it’s gone up by about £224 (to £474) a month.

“I’m retired, I’m 76 this year, and financially, I’m so crippled by this increase. They’re not actually giving me anything extra (for the increase), or improving anything here.

“They’ve got about 420 places here, which are almost full up now, which is unusual because they’d been empty for some time.

“But during the winter, the boat owners like to get their boat out of the water to work on them, so they need yard space to do that.

“What the marina people are saying is they’re trying to encourage people to move their boats out of the yard, to make space for other people.

“The way I see it, it’s blackmail. For a typical boat owner, that (increase) may or may not be an issue. Most of them live in houses most of the time, but this boat is my home. I have nowhere else.”

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Mr Spray also refuted the idea that more space is needed, as he argued that this is taken up unnecessarily by Plas Heli, an events centre and home of the National Sailing Academy located opposite the marina.

He added that he has tried to contact Gwynedd Council, who is responsible for the marina, but to no avail so far.

Should Mr Spray become unable to afford his yard space, he argued that, by requesting social housing from the council, this would, in fact, cost the authority more money.

“I now face this huge bill based on the argument that they need space, but there is a huge waste of space here on account of them building the Plas Heli – or as they say round here, the ‘non-event centre’.

“It’s a huge white elephant that is costing the council huge amounts of money to keep running. They have huge amounts of land that they’re not using; it’s completely empty.

“The marina is saying they we want space for its boat owners in the marina so they can work on their boats in winter, but they’ve got all of this wasted space in the yard.

“It’s not a sustainable situation for me. I’ll become homeless, and if I run out of money here, I’ll then throw myself on to the council for housing.

“What’s that going to cost the council? A huge amount of money. Obviously, social housing is in huge demand anyway, and it’s a very expensive outgoing for the council.

“The council want a further £224 from me, but the net effect of that is that the council will then have to spend thousands on me to house me. It’s absolutely bonkers; they need to join the dots up.

“The council runs the marina, and I’ve already approached the marina to see whether they’re prepared to negotiate, and they’re not.

“I’ve already sent an email to Dafydd Gibbard, chief executive of Gwynedd Council, but I don’t expect any reply from them.

“The council need to do their sums more carefully. It’s all very well extracting another £224 from me, but it’s going to cost them several times that in order to find me housing.”

In response to this, a Gwynedd Council spokesperson said: "There are a number of vessels stored ashore within the dry storage yard at Hafan Pwllheli.

"Some of the vessels have remained dormant and unattended for a number of years with their owners showing no intent of returning their vessels to sea; to a berth or on to mooring at any time in the near future.

"The dry storage yard is intended to offer space ashore in order for our mooring or pontoon customers to maintain their boat for short periods of time before re-launching the vessel to sea.

"There is a shortage of storage area ashore for vessels requiring to be brought out of the water at the end of a sailing season due to the long-term storage of dormant and unused boats.

"We are also concerned that the storage area is being used for residential purposes.

"The dry storage area at Hafan Pwllheli was not designed, intended or deemed acceptable for the purpose of residing permanently aboard a vessel whist on dry land.

"Whilst this may have initially been intended as a very short-term temporary arrangement, it is nevertheless a situation we need to address with the relevant owner of the vessel.”