A start on the proposed £multi-million marina project at Goodwick will be delayed because of a legal challenge to the ownership of the foreshore.

Mark Roberts says the land belongs to him, as Lord Marcher of Treleck, and not to the Crown Estate.

Because the dispute has not been settled and Pembrokeshire County Council officers are unable to ensure all the necessary consents will be in place, £2 million in Objective One funding could be lost.

The information was given at a public meeting called by the Fishguard, Goodwick and Lower town Civic Society, to provide an update on the town's regeneration plan.

Mayor Cllr Richard Davies said afterwards: "The town council should have been told before Friday how things stood. Yet we had been told nothing. It's appalling to think someone who reckons they own the foreshore could stop such a big development for the town."

County Councillor David Jones said: "It's very difficult to understand that someone could do this. But if it is the law, then I am afraid we have to follow it." Kefin Wakefield, the council's head of development control, dismissed fears that the marina project had been sunk.

He told the Western Telegraph: "This is an issue between the Crown Estate and the gentleman in question but it will have to be settled one way or another." "It's a hiccup and may delay the development, but it will not stop it.

"The marina is an extremely important component in the Fishguard strategy for a number of reasons and it is also important for the whole marina strategy of Wales."

He said the council was working with the WDA and Assembly Government to ensure that if Objective One funding was lost alternative money would be allocated from elsewhere. "We are still looking towards 2007," he said.