Friday, 21 February 2014

copy of letter sent to the Fife press



This letter was sent into the press, but they published their own version.



Dear Editor


I am asking you to publish the following open letter on behalf of the members of North Queensferry Boat Club, Old Railway Pier North Queensferry Fife.  To the following People:


 To Fife Councillors.

As chairman of NQBC I request that you (the Councillors) do not support the granting of a lease to NQCT on the grounds that there are growing concerns that after investigating both their proposals (one given to FC, one presented to the public at a pre-emptive meeting) there are serious irregularities in those proposals that requires further and more detailed investigations before a lease is granted. I also request that the NQ Harbour issue is removed from the SWAC agenda until these concerns are investigated.


To Leaders of the various political parties within Fife.

I submit that it would be helpful to form a cross party committee to investigate our claims and to ensure no councillor is subjected to external pressure  by those who wish the transfer to go ahead at all costs.

Background

We (NQBC) have been acting as caretakers for the harbour at North Queensferry on behalf of FC to their satisfaction for over 20 years and the club has been in existence for 60 years. We are very active within the community by raising lottery funds to build 2 rowing skiffs for a community rowing club which we helped form and are very active with donations to the community, we also held 2 boat festivals with another planned for next year. Under our care-taking we have seen the return of nesting shell ducks and a few seals visiting our bay, as a boat club our green credentials are second to none; we are also committed to protecting our bay from unethical development and are actively planning to try and have the pier area declared a mini nature reserve.

When Fife Council decided to pass on the lease, interested parties were invited to put forward proposals and to this end we (NQBC) established North Queensferry harbour Trust (NQHT).





We submitted our proposal to a committee comprised of Fife Councillors and officers but were unanimously turned down by said committee in favour of a non boating Community Trust (NQCT); this was agreed in the mid 2000’s, so no matter what NQHT presented we were not to be awarded this lease.

NQCT which is headed by a QC; (who also chairs the community council) has no track record of property management.

The NQCT committee's plans are to decimate the space for the boat club and as at the moment we use every available space (98 members)

It would be a sad day for the boating community if a club can be threatened in this way. We are not prestigious club simply a working person’s boat club. The NQCT chairman is a QC and we do not have the legal expertise to know our rights if the NQCT decide to increase fees to a point where our members can no longer afford to berth their boats this may cause the disbandment of a club with skilled men that has lasted for 60 years.
  
I would appreciate any assistance you can give us and I am more than happy to meet with you at any time to provide any further information you require to assist our cause



We have a long-standing relationship with our neighbours and local dog walkers and make our toilet facilities available to members of the public since the council demolished the local toilets without supplying an alternative at the pier.

No comments:

Post a Comment