An innovative development, costing in excess of £60 million pounds, to regenerate the entire dock and marina area in Milford Haven has been viewed by over 200 people during a series of public consultations, with the majority supporting the plans.

Milford Haven Port Authority, which is behind the plans, wants to enhance the leisure, entertainment and retail offerings available to increase the number of visitors and boost economic prosperity in the town. Another crucial element of the plan is to improve facilities at Milford Dock for the fishing industry. The Port is committed to retaining the Docks' status as the largest fishing port in Wales, and hopes to attract further business within this sector.

Plans for the development, named the Milford Dock Master Plan, have been evolving over the past four months, with a number of consultation events taking place throughout the period. Various stakeholders and the general public have provided feedback during the consultation process, and this has led to the development of a draft plan that the Port aims to submit to Pembrokeshire County Council for outline planning permission in early/mid 2013.

Jeff Teague, estates director for MHPA, said: "In the early stages of the process we simply identified areas or zones that we thought would easily lend themselves to certain uses. As the consultation moved forward, more specific ideas were put forward by consultees, for example one comment was to retain key buildings that reflect the Docks' history and heritage and you'll see in the latest plan that we've done just that.

"Of huge importance to a lot of people was the creation of better links to Charles Street. We'd already given this some thought and since it was something supported by the majority of stakeholders, we developed the idea further. A multi-level car park, creating a direct link with Hamilton Terrace and a shuttle bus service running between Charles Street and the Marina, are both included in the latest plan."

The plan, which includes an expansion of leisure and entertainment facilities, such as coffee bars, retail outlets, a multiscreen cinema and open spaces for events and recreational activities, is available for inspection at http://www.consultation.mhpa.co.uk">www.consultation.mhpa.co.uk.

Following the latest consultation, further fine tuning of the plan will be made, with the final version expected by the end of this year.