News

Marina Exploratory Meeting

A meeting was held at Port Edgar Yacht Club on Tuesday 7th June 2011. Organised at short notice by Terry Kirchin, there were four experts with wide knowledge and experience on subjects from the running and managing of marinas to charitable trusts and the way finance can be found for the 'right' projects.

Although we are certainly in a rather daunting position there were a lot of positives to be taken from the meeting and reasons to be hopeful about the future of Port Edgar. I have attached a summary of the main points that I feel were raised by the meeting.

We now need people to volunteer to get involved in the initial project team and I urge you to get in contact with Terry if you feel you can help determine the future of Port Edgar.

A brief summary of what was said at the meeting:

  • Port Edgar is the best, most practical site on the Forth for a marina. Although currently run down it has a lot of positive features and a great deal of potential. The Sailing School and active yacht club make it a busy, exciting place to be.
  • The majority of people in South Queensferry see the marina as a significant and important community asset. Recreational sailing although a minority interest is seen as a growth area within sport. There are a lot of groups ( RYA, schools etc.) promoting increased participation in the sport. Port Edgar is currently a significant part of this.
  • Modern, well run marinas help to attract and stimulate businesses and tourism to water front sites throughout the world. This could be achieved at Port Edgar and is in line with SNP and Local Government’s stated objectives.
  • Although there are no firm proposals yet it seems that the Council’s preferred replacement of Edinburgh Leisure would be some kind of community/management buy-out. This should be achievable and may encounter fewer hurdles than an outside commercial group would face.
  • There seems to be a fair amount of assistance available through Social Enterprise initiatives etc. These will provide advice on funding, business plans, company and political links and charity status. Funding would be available for properly constituted proposals which met the various aims and targets currently set by government.
  • Port Edgar Yacht Club is a significant player within the marina. We do not want to take over the running of the facility but do want to be involved in the process of finding a way to keep it open and make it successful. At this stage we are happy to be a focus point bringing together interested parties and helping build a team of people with the expertise to explore fully the proposals and possible solutions. We believe there is a great deal of useful expertise available from the various groups involved with Port Edgar and that we can establish a skilled and effective team at this stage.
  • We want to involve as wide a range of people as possible in this process. Looking at the differing aims and objectives of the organisations and businesses within Port Edgar and the wider community of South Queensferry will be the best way to ensure we end up with a successful, vibrant marina.