-: Jun 01, 2016 / admin

How Security Helped Avonmouth & Portbury Make News


In August of this year, large areas of land around Portbury and Avonmouth were sold off by Bristol City Council. The land sale amounted to around £10 million, and was mostly freehold land which was already occupied by the buyers of the land, the Bristol Port Company. This company was privatised in 1991, but it still had to lease the land on around 2,500 acres in the Portbury and Avonmouth areas. The Port Company were regularly investing money into the land and businesses on that land, and so the purchase of the acres makes practical sense for the future of Bristol Port.

Why is the sale different?

The purchase of Port freehold land is extremely rare in this country, with most privatised port companies preferring to simply have the lease on the freehold land. These leases can last for up to 150 years, but there is a risk in buying this land, and that is that it is not very well secured. Without proper fencing and teams of security guards, the land would be exposed to criminal activity. This places the company at risk of liability, and most companies are just not prepared to put money into land which could end up costing them. This means that any purchase of council land by the Port Company must come with a reasonable reliance upon security.

Security is vital for ports

With most ports under threat from immigrant arrivals into the UK, it is essential to be able to secure all areas of land owned by the Port Company. Land which is leased is not necessarily as highly secured, since the land belongs to the local council, and they have to take responsibility for the security of their land. Lack of efficient security within the property falls back onto the Port Company when they purchase the land.

Creating better security at the Ports

If you are concerned about the amount of security required by ports in the area, then you should be reassured by the news of the sale. The money which has been raised by the selling of the freeholds means that the council has an extra 10 million in the bank that can now be used to help the people of Portbury and Avonmouth. With extra security companies in Avonmouth port, and more money in the council, this seems like a win-win situation for everyone.

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