PLANS for a permanent 50-tonne crane in Penzance have been submitted to Cornwall Council.

Penzance Maritime Holdings Ltd is proposing to regenerate Penzance dry dock on Wharf Road with a number of measures, including the installation of a permanent 50-tonne crane, which it says will appear on the skyline but will not obscure views of Conservation Site and historical assets in nearby Chapel Street.

The crane, a Goliath or Gantry design on steel rails, would reach more than 100 per cent of the dry dock and would rise around a third above the existing ridge height of neighbouring workshops.

A planning statement says “in key views the top of the gantry will appear in the skyline but will not obscure views of Conservation Site assets in Chapel Street. The crane is likely to become a landmark and is necessary to the survival and growth of business at the dock”.

It added: “Not only is the crane appropriate to the maritime environment and future of the business, its impact is considered to be neutral to no more than minor to the group value of listed buildings, in order to conserve the maritime character of the conservation area”.

The crane would mean that built parts of ships would not have to be moved on the road and around to the other side of the facility.

“This will minimise the impact to day to day life around the ship yard and prevent road closures,” says the statement.

Meanwhile, another application has been submitted to turn the Penzance Orchestral Society band room at Queen Street in the town into a single house.

The band room was built between 1860 and 1870 by Elizabeth Carne who built the cottages abutting it up to Regents Terrace at the same time. She had been left her father’s fortune as a mining engineer and merchant, and created the building to house her family’s extensive mineral collection.

She died in 1873 and the Penzance orchestral society took on the building in 1907 as a rehearsal room for the creation of the Penzance Orchestra by Walter Barnes and others. The building has been used for rehearsals for the orchestra and Cornwall Chamber Orchestra until about a year ago. Since then it has been empty and put on the market.

The building is no longer fit for purpose. There are also practical issues such as finding parking for members of the orchestra and carrying instruments to and from the site. The building also needs considerable repairs and the charity didn’t have the funds to carry them out. Both orchestras now use Humphrey Davy school gym for rehearsals. In the meantime it was let for occasional life drawing classes.