Long-awaited dredging to clear silt and sand at a Carmarthenshire harbour, which is under temporary management, has got under way.

Boat owners in Burry Port had been complaining for years about what they claimed was a lack of maintenance, culminating in a petition from campaign group Friends of Burry Port Harbour to the council calling for action.

The company leasing the harbour from Carmarthenshire Council went into administration early last summer.

Dredging diggers are now at the harbour to ensure that berth holders can safely sail out to the Burry Inlet and back.

The council said the harbour was under the temporary management of administrators Azets UK, and that the administration process was continuing.

“The council is working with the administrators to manage a path forward for the future operation of the harbour,” said a spokesperson for the authority.

Friends of Burry Port Harbour’s chairman, Bob John, said it was a tricky situation but that things seemed to be heading in the right direction.

He said: “There is positive evidence of progress.”

He added that a barrel post at the harbour’s outer entrance was also going to be repaired.

When it presented its petition to the council in January 2023, the “friends of” group claimed that boats were regularly stuck in the harbour due to an accumulation of silt and sand , and that it had concerns about the condition of pontoons.

Council chiefs said they had told leaseholder Burry Port Marina Ltd – a subsidiary of a larger marine company – that it must stick to a management plan without delay.

The director of Burry Port Marina Ltd said dredging work would be carried out, while also describing the harbour as challenging and loss-making.

Five months later, in June 2023, cabinet members were told that council officers were liaising with administrators and that the authority wanted a safe, fully-functioning and attractive harbour – the same outcome as that sought by Friends of Burry Port Harbour.