To the Councillors attending the Fife Councils
executive meeting
Of March 25th
2014
Dear Councillors
This is information you need to know before there
is any decision taken regarding the lease for North Queensferry Old Railway
Pier.
I wish to reiterate our objection to a decision made
by a group of three Fife councillors and five council officers held on 2013
July Wednesday 24th 3:30pm at Inverkeithing Civic Centre, awarding
the status of preferred bidder to North Community Trust (NQCT) against the
North Queensferry harbour Trust (NQHT) the legal entity of North Queensferry
Boat Club (NQBC) the latter having been the de facto caretakers of the
pier/harbour on behalf of Fife Council for 20 years.
This decision is due to be presented to you for
ratification at your executive committee meeting. This decision was taken after
one 45 minute meeting with both parties; a small amount of time to dispose of
such a high value asset; without proper due diligence being conducted (proper due
diligence reports normally take a month at least and are conducted by an
impartial outside source)
As shown in our presentation we (NQHT/NQBC) are
committed to the development of the old railway pier/harbour area as a marine
user’s haven for the west fife community and will encourage other marine leisure
pursuits; allowing free use of the pier area to planned community events whilst
investing in new facilities, further supporting the estimated tourist influx.
As the present functioning management team of this
council asset we also ensured that council fees (approx 20.000 pounds annually
in total) are paid by our members. NQBC/NQHT feels that we have proved our
ability to be formally recognised as the caretakers by being awarded the lease.
The other
potential trust has no such experience, their business plan is unrealistic; the
plan presented to the panel is also full of irregularities some of which are
shown below with no sustainable finance for running cost for the initial 2 years shown in said plan.
·
WE were initially informed that there would be
no large increase in our fees, they now intend after year one to increase our
fees by 28%.
·
They mention other community based trusts none
of whom run a harbour.
Quoted community consultations results are
based on less than 5% of residents
Community
groups have organised at the pier
·
1 raft race per year
·
1 wedding reception in 20 years
·
1 Garden event in 20 years
NQCB have
organised
·
2 boat festivals ( mentioned in parliament)
·
The building and Launching of 2 rowing skiffs
owned by NQBC (3rd under construction)
·
Supported the revival of NQ vs. SQ rowing race
·
Organised donations to the local schools and the
local Gala.
·
Space/ use of our equipment for sail-ability
fife to re-furbish a boat gifted to them.
NQCT hope to
offer at the pier
·
The use of the area for informal (unsupervised)
BBQ’s and children’s activities in an area that could prove unsafe
·
Day long events Festivals, weddings, corporate
events, these could take income from local businesses, including the newly
planned forth bridge visitor centre in NQ.
Visitor
attractions
·
Any village-wide tourism plan will require an
expensive infrastructure and experienced management to provide the toilets,
parking and catering facilities.
·
There is no infrastructure to accommodate
thousands of visitors, cars or buses ( the day of the NQ-SQ rowing event there
was grid lock in and around the harbour) the space is not there and cannot be
created other than knocking down surrounding private housing and infilling part
of the west bay. Perhaps NQCT would be better organising parking at the
community centre to accommodate the requirements of the proposed sports centre
for which they have forgotten to include in the plans for this proposal.
Marine
tourism
·
NQBC has the mooring rights from the Crown and
will own these rights long-term
·
NQCT cannot bring any touring yachts into these
moorings.
·
All visitors from cruise ships are landed at SQ this
includes transportation from cruise ships, guided tours and local walking tours
this arrangement was created by the SQ initiative.
·
NQBC has met with members of the Cross Party Group studying this area of
tourism and we have sought advice on
development and harbour usage
Maritime
activities
·
NQBC has already funded and built 2 rowing
skiffs
·
NQBC already offers boat maintenance
·
Sailing and Sailing lessons already tried and
failed by a trustee of NQCT
·
Canoeing and kayaking already happens with the help of NQBC, these
people do not wish premises on the harbour
NQBC have been told we will not be allowed any more
new project boats, yet NQCT wish to encourage boat building/ repairs.
Despite a decrease in hard standing NQCT wish an
increase of 22 boats from 78 to 100. The area they wish to allocate for all
year round hard standing has not been tested to ensure it can take the weight
of the boats that would use it. This area is too small to take the number of
boats and trailers that would be required to be stored there without removing
trees and reinforcing the embankments.
NQCT wish to appoint a harbour master, despite the
fact he/she will have no authority over boats moored in the harbour.
Portacabin providing toilet facilities and office
space already exists and owned by NQBC with the disposal of toilet waste being
dealt with at NQBC expense.
Work shop building changing to a possible wide
range of boat building and group activities despite the fact that NQBC owns the
power and equipment that is present in this building.
The new car park, with possible seasonal activities
will turn this area that is a small park into a desolate empty unappealing
space.
NQCT long term vision of a multipurpose building – there
has been no feasibility study as to the suitability of the area for such
extensive development ie whether the
side pier wall/ embankment could take the weight without collapsing.
NQBC/NQHT is financially stable and can support
initial/everyday running costs without any borrowings or grants indefinitely.
NQCT led by a QC has chosen to ignore basic law;
·
The existing tenants must not be disadvantaged
by changeover (tenant’s rights)
·
Any heads of terms for any lease are required to
secure for NQBC the facilities that NQBC has always had and without which NQBC
(the tenant) would otherwise be seriously disadvantaged; i.e. water,
electricity, club house/tea cabin, workshop and secure storage of communal club
items and property along with sufficient space for boats and boat moving
equipment.
·
This should be included in such a way as to
secure this for NQBC for as long as the club exists. NQBC should not be
disadvantaged or it future threatened by fee/rent increases beyond normal in
line increases with inflation; the club cannot be used as a cash cow to fund
unrealistic and unfeasible day dreams.
The members of NQBC who number 97 at present have
no confidence in NQCTs ability to manage the harbour and fear for the future of
a club which will have been established for 60 years. The reason for our lack
of confidence is shown partly by the NQCT business plan presented to the panel
and more so in the different business plan presented to the community at an
open meeting in which our year round space will be decreased by approximately
80%. They have shown no knowledge of boat owner’s needs; their plans are
unfeasible.
We are not a
prestigious club but simply a unique well respected workingmen’s boat club with
such boat building skills that is the envy of every facility along both sides
of the river; we do encourage projects and this year seen the launch of an old
navy cutter that was restored by one of our members with more to be restored and a new build to
be launched, we also secured a lottery
grant to build a racing skiff, in fact we built two, helping start up the North
Queensferry Community rowing club to whom we lend these skiffs .
The NQCT chairman is a QC and we do not have that
legal expertise to know our rights, should 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.
It is also our considered opinion that Councillor
Pat Callaghan should recuse himself from this discussion as he was part of the
interviewing group for the council. Councillor Mike Shirkie’s bias in favour of
NQCT should be noted in view of his current position as a trustee of NQCT
David Ross invited two representatives of NQBC/NQHT
to a meeting to discuss our concerns regarding the possible takeover of the
lease by NQCT and we were assured an investigation would be undertaken to
ensure due diligence was taken in the acceptance of NQCT as preferred bidders.
We have had no feedback from Mr Ross and our concerns remain unanswered. The
speed with which this has come before this committee could lead to the
assumption that no such investigation has taken place.
Should you require further information, wish to
meet or visit us at the Old railway Pier please contact the writer in the following
manner
Emails
Websites
northqueensferryboatclub.co.uk
northqueensferryharbourtrust.co.uk
Blog
nqbc123
North Queensferry Boat club
Old Railway Pier
North
Queensferry
Fife
KY11
1HW
Yours
David Stewart
CEO NQHT
Chairman NQBC
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