What the Press say

Banffshire Advertiser

The under mentioned article was first published in The Banffshire Advertiser Tuesday 16th October 2007 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the ‘Banffshire Advertiser’

LOCHHEAD VOWS SUPPORT AS HARBOUR PLAN UNVEILED

PORTGORDON Community Harbour Group Ltd (PCHG) unveiled the latest stage in their plans to completely revamp the village's harbour last week.
They also took the chance to present their proposals to Moray SNP MSP Richard Lochhead, who was in Portgordon conducting a mobile surgery on October 11.

Formed in 2003, PCHG hope to take over ownership of the facility from the current owners, Crown Estate Commissioners, and to put into action a regeneration plan that would see the development of a £1.3 million marina. Once completed, the developed harbour would then be run as a Harbour Trust, taking advantage of the burgeoning leisure sailing market.

April 2005 saw the group commission and publish a detailed feasibility Study, which looked into the history of the harbour, its current location, the proposed regeneration, market assessments and the financial and legislative issues surrounding the project. Since the publication of the study, PCHG have been giving careful consideration as to how best to progress the proposed development, and were delighted last week to announce that they have completed their business report.

Entitled 'Portgordon Harbour Regeneration -Proposed Business Report', the document has been submitted to Smiths Gore, the agents for Crown Estate Commissioners, for their consideration.

Hailing this next step forward in the regeneration process, PCHG Chairman Ron Billing said: "The business plan has been a long time in the making while market assessment and financial planning was updated.

"The group recognise that we still have a long way to go while further detailed discussions take place and funding is secured.

"Community involvement will continue to be essential during the project and we would be delighted to hear from anyone who wishes to get involved or just wants to show their support. Further information can be found on our website www.portgordonharbour.org."

The meeting with Mr Lochhead was described as "productive", and the Nationalist MSP was keen to praise the ongoing efforts of the group."I'm hugely impressed by these exciting plans for Portgordon harbour," he commented. "There is no doubt that they will bring enormous benefit to the community.

"This ambitious proposal deserves support and will help Portgordon make the most of its heritage. I commend the local community, and members of the Harbour Group for laying out their vision of the future and for their hard work over the last few years.

"I will do all I can to help make this vision a reality."

Both the harbour and the village of Portgordon date back to 1797 when it was founded by Alexander, fourth Duke of Gordon. The original harbour occupied more or less the same position as its modern-day counterpart, and featured wooden piers.

As the fishing activities increased so did a bustling import and export trade, and Portgordon soon became an important port in the area. Between 1870 and 1874 the harbour underwent extensive rebuilding and enlarging work under the direction Edinburgh-based engineers D and T Stevenson.

Following this reconstruction work the number of vessels registered in the harbour rose to over 100, and the village also developed as a centre for the boat building industry, with local yards constructing first of all Zulus and then, from around 1903, steam drifters.

However, the winds of change that began to blow in the second decade of the 20th century were not kind to Portgordon harbour with the fishing fleet beginning to dwindle. In 1935 ownership of the harbour was transferred from the Gordon-Lennox family to the Crown Estate Commissioners, who decided to close the harbour in 1947. Following this decision, the structure of the harbour quickly began to deteriorate, but the rot was in part halted thanks to the intervention in the mid-1980s of a team of Gurkha engineers. Part of the Army's Military Aid programme, the Gurkhas made a total of three visits to the harbour under the title of 'Operation Famous Grouse', and their efforts are commemorated by a plaque on the harbour's north wall.

At present, the harbour is only used for occasional recreational use
and by a number of small fishing boats

End

The above article is reproduced with the kind permission of the ‘Banffshire Advertiser’

Press and Journal

Portgordon Community Harbour Group has long realized there is a demand for marina type leisure facilities in the area. This view is shared by many, however, there are those that may question the need and so we have pleasure in reproducing an article published by a newspaper that is both unbiased and factual. We hope the article answers those questions.

The under mentioned article was first published in The Press and Journal Tuesday 9th October 2007 and is reproduced with kind permission of Aberdeen Journals Ltd



ON THE CREST OF A WAVE

Picture a marina. Gaily-coloured yachts bobbing on an azure sea and rows of quayside cafes and restaurants, filled with expensively dressed sailors drinking gin and tonic at pavement tables.

It's an image straight from the tourist guides of millionaires' playgrounds like Cannes and Monte Carlo.

But these days, marinas are as likely to be found in towns like Arbroath, Banff and Stromness, as a boom in leisure boating opens up an important new source of income for coastal communities that can no longer depend on fishing for a living.

Around 15,000 yachts are berthed in marinas and harbours around the Scottish coast and demand for space is growing at a rate of around 5-10% every year.

When Aberdeenshire Council opened a £1.3million marina at Banff in April this year, managers hoped to be able to fill all 70 pontoon berths by 2010. In fact, every space was taken within a month. Moray Council is now planning a similar development for 60 small boats at Hopeman.

Highland planners gave provisional backing to a 500-yacht marina near Ardersier last month. Work is already under way on a 140-boat marina as part of a redeveloped Inverness harbour.

The latest port to join the boom is Stornoway in Lewis. Plans were unveiled yesterday for a £2million development, which will include 40 new yachting berths.

George Cameron, Aberdeenshire Council's principal harbours engineer, who helped mastermind the Banff development, says Scotland is experiencing unprecedented demand.

Before opening, his team researched existing marinas along the Moray coast, including Lossiemouth, Whitehills, Nairn, Findochty and Peterhead, and learned each had a waiting list of at least 20-30 boat owners. They devised a business plan giving the Banff marina three years to reach capacity. To their surprise, the marina already has its own waiting list.

"We were confident we would fill all the berths over time," said Mr Cameron. "We certainly didn't anticipate it being such an instant success."

He puts the popularity of the marina down to a combination of people having more disposable income and more leisure time, putting boat ownership within the reach of those who might not have considered it previously.

This is borne out at Banff. As well as yachtsmen, the marina has become a thriving base for all kinds of seafarers, including local creel fishermen, dive boats and tour boats. Six out of 10 tenants are from the Banff and Macduff area and three out of 10 from the wider Grampian region, with the remainder coming from farther afield.

A handful of berths are also kept aside for visitors and these have been filled by boats from the Netherlands, Denmark and other European countries. A regatta next weekend should also boost the local tourist trade.

Mr Cameron said the opening of the marina had brought a new vibrancy to the town.

"I was talking to the chairman of the residents' association the other day and he said he has never seen the harbour so busy," he said. "Even people who don't have boats are being drawn there because it's just such a nice place to visit now.

"It's early days, but we're hoping that will translate into increased custom for local restaurants, cafes and shops and maybe result in more businesses opening up."

Official figures suggest Mr Cameron is right to be optimistic about what the marina might do for Banff.

A recent study for the British Marine Federation revealed coastal marinas were worth more than £500million annually to the UK economy.

The report, launched at last month's Southampton Boat Show, showed marinas directly employed more than 1,700 people and supported another 22,000 jobs in supply chain businesses and tourism, with boating visitors spending more than £200million a year.

Rob Stevens, chief executive of the British Marine Federation, said marinas made a significant contribution to the economy: "They offer a huge variety of facilities and many sites are important centres of employment, with some playing a key role in regeneration and being visitor attractions in their own right."

Another report on boating on the Clyde for Scottish Enterprise Ayr found sailing was nearly as important to Scottish tourism as the £300million-a-year income from golf. As well as being one of the world's top sailing destinations, Scotland has competitive costs in its favour - berthing rates north of the border can be up to 40% lower than in the south of England.

Traditionally, Scotland's marinas have been clustered around the Clyde, within easy reach of the world-famous sailing grounds of the Western Isles, but increasingly, they are to be found in less obvious locations. Shetland has 17 marinas. Orkney has three. Along the east coast, leisure boat facilities are offering new hope for harbours vacated by the fishing industry. Hugh Henderson, chairman of the Royal Yachting Association Scotland, said leisure boating was losing its expensive and exclusive image to become a fast expanding activity.

"Yachting has this white cap and gin and tonic image, but that's not the reality these days," he said. "It's coming within the range of a lot of people - not just the Aristotle Onassises of the world - and a lot of these small boats are like seagoing caravans for family holidays.

"We've been noticing quite a change in Scotland in the last few years, particularly on the east coast, where space is opening up for leisure boats now that the harbours aren't filled with fishing boats."

He said towns along the north and eastern coasts should be applauded for recognising the far-reaching benefits of leisure boating to the tourism industry. In comparison, sailors often struggle to find berths on the Firth of Forth, where every spare scrap of land is being snapped up for housing.

"We would say that's quite a short-sighted view," he said. "If you go to France, all the little ports have facilities for leisure boats and residential properties back off of those, with the marina like the village green. We are starting to see that happening along the Moray coast, and a surprising amount of things are happening, or about to happen, as a result of having a marina there."

End.

The above article is reproduced in full with kind permission of ‘The Press and Journal’ – ‘Aberdeen Journals Ltd’