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22 December 2007
To all members of Oban Bay Marine
Dear Member
This is to bring you up to date with two recent and significant Oban Bay Marine (OBM) developments. As you know, OBM aims to work in partnership with the Council to greatly improve the facilities in the Oban Bay area for smaller boats and to provide safe and convenient access for crews and passengers of local and visiting boats of various types to enable them to obtain fuel, water, stores etc and to be able to use the whole range of facilities located in and around Oban. One benefit of such facilities would be the ability to attract to Oban a much greater share of the £250 million spent annually by leisure boats in Scotland.
Over recent months, we have maintained regular contact with our local MSP, Jim Mather, who is also Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism. Jim has been very supportive of the aspirations of OBM and suggested that it would be useful to organise a Community Consultation meeting, open to all with an interest in Oban Bay and the surrounding area.
OBM has welcomed this suggestion and is currently organising the meeting, which is planned to take place on the evening of Friday 18 January in the Argyllshire Gathering Halls in Breadalbane Street, Oban. Jim will chair the meeting. Further details will be sent to you shortly.
We plan to identify the principal stakeholder groups and ask them to notify us in advance of their main aspirations for the area and what they consider to be the hurdles in achieving these. This should identify the issues that people want to discuss. I urge you to take this important opportunity to attend and demonstrate your support for the need for improved facilities in our bay and the surrounding area. Please put this date in your diary now.
The second development is very recent. On Thursday, 13 December, Mike Robertson, our vice chairman, was invited to a meeting involving a number of Oban's most successful business people and representatives of the local fishing fleet. They have plans to establish a significant number of pontoon berths with floating concrete breakwater between the North and Railway Piers. This would be a very significant development in Oban and would complement OBM's plan to establish sixteen visitor moorings off Dungallan Parks (recently approved by The Crown Estate) and provide local pontoon access.
This group was considering setting up a community company, limited by guarantee, and organising a public meeting to progress these plans. Mike Robertson pointed out that OBM is a not for profit community company, limited by guarantee, formed for the purpose of improving facilities for smaller vessels in the Oban Bay and Sound of Kerrera area and designed in such a way to make its proposals attractive to external funding agencies, and that a public meeting was being organised - the Community Consultation mentioned above. Mike then invited three representatives from that group to attend the OBM board meeting on the evening of Monday 17 December.
Three of these business people, Calum MacLachlainn, John McGregor and Paul Sloan, attended part of our board meeting and, following lengthy discussions, they joined OBM and agreed to proceed with this development through OBM, to ensure that all interested parties are working towards the same goals in unison. The board then co-opted them as directors.
As you can see from the above, we are entering a period of great opportunity and challenge and I very much hope you will be able to join us on 18 January.
With best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a successful 2008.
John Anderson Chairman Oban Bay Marine |