Plans to upgrade infrastructure and reopen a Kent port are set to be put on the back burner after no ferry operators came forward to run services.

Prospective firms were expected to fund almost £15 million worth of works needed at the Port of Ramsgate.

Despite “wider interest and a strong strategic case” for reopening the port, Thanet District Council’s (TDC) hopes to welcome back ships have been left anchored with chiefs now set to reallocate millions of pounds.

Since March 2023, TDC has been searching for a company to run the port, which has been out of action since the last ferry sailed in 2013.

However, with council chiefs admitting prospective firms would need to spend £14.8 million themselves to get the port ready, it now looks likely the project will be parked until additional funding can be secured.

TDC’s cabinet will meet later this month, where it will consider a proposal not to continue with its ‘Ramsgate Pathfinder Port Infrastructure’ scheme, instead reallocating £7.6 million it had been awarded to five different projects in Ramsgate.

The council says despite “positive conversations, a strong business case and credible market interest”, its efforts in the past two years for an operator have proved unsuccessful.

Leader Cllr Rick Everitt (Lab) said: “Although the timescales associated with the Pathfinder Programme mean we can’t continue to progress the project within this funding stream, there remains a strong strategic case for the Port of Ramsgate.

“There has been, and continues to be wider interest in the future potential.

“The challenge is that as a small district council we can’t deliver the infrastructure required. It’s too big for the council alone. If we don’t intervene then the opportunity will be lost not only for Thanet, but also for the country.

“There is no ‘do-nothing’ option and in my view this means we must now look at alternative uses for the site, alongside other potential ways of renewing the port infrastructure.

“But we can’t risk losing £7.6 million of funding for Ramsgate, so we have to take the concession project off the table.”

He also said it is still a “key objective” of the council to find a sustainable future for the port.

Any potential operator would have been running the port under a concession from the council, including 17.8 acres of land and two roll-on, roll-off ferry berths.

Initial estimates of £3.5 million worth of works to the harbour were revised last year with another £4.1 million pumped into the project’s coffers. A 2024 assessment suggested it would cost £16.8 million to bring the berths up to standard and associated further works to enable ships to dock again.

The prospective concessionaire appointed by the council was set to receive a grant of £4.5 million as a contribution to the delivery of capital works alongside the operator’s required £14.8 million investment.

However, with the deadline for spending the government funding coming in March 2026, Cllr Everitt admitted time constraints and failure to attract a partner for the port, means the plan needs to be taken off the table.

The council has now asked the government for a 12-month extension to deliver the remainder of the Pathfinder programme, which is expected to be approved – pushing the deadline back to March 2027.

Should the proposals for the port be agreed by cabinet members, they will then be asked to approve the reallocation of the £7.6 million funding to other existing projects within the scheme.

Ramsgate Clock House could be granted an extra £1.7 million, while the Green Campus would be boosted by £2 million, as would work for harbour placemaking.

The Broad Street project would benefit from a bonus £585,000, and the fishing facilities would receive £100,000 with more than £1.2 million left for contingency purposes.

Cllr Everitt said: “Since responding to the government’s call out for projects as part of the Future High Street Fund in 2019, Thanet has been successfully awarded over £50 million in regeneration funding.

“This is an exceptional achievement and it is critical we deliver this programme. This has proven particularly challenging in Ramsgate due to the very short timescale the council was given to design new projects for the funding bid in 2021, as well as the difficult economic environment since the award was confirmed.

“However, the need to consider reallocating the £7.6 million provides an important opportunity to ensure that the valuable benefits of these projects for the town and the wider community in terms of jobs and growth can be delivered to the maximum extent possible.”

The council initially hoped freight services would return but passenger services were not ruled out as a possibility.

The reports will be reviewed by the Overview and Scrutiny Panel on Tuesday, June 17, prior to the cabinet meeting on June 26.