Portgordon Harbour group hail double boost for plans
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A DOUBLE boost has been handed to plans to create a community-owned harbour and local services hub in Portgordon.
There was an enthusiastic thumbs up from a virtual meeting last Thursday evening where local residents were asked for their opinions on plans to bring village organisations and services together under one roof.
For Portgordon Community Harbour Group Ltd (PCHG), who are behind the plans, the week brought further good news when it was revealed that a memorandum of understanding had been signed between with Crown Estate to work towards bringing the village harbour into community ownership by 2023.
The agreement is the culmination of years of work between the two organisations, while the public meeting represented the latest stage of an in-depth consultation process which has been ongoing since 2017.
Running alongside Thursday's meeting is a survey into the hub proposals.
Leading the meeting was Alice Firebrace from Community Enterprise, the organisation hired by PCHG to draw up a business plan for the hub.
Speaking after the meeting, PCHG chairman Colin Hanover said: "Overall, I felt it was a very positive, supportive and encouraging meeting, with no-one voicing opposition to the plans.
"The quality of the comments and view was excellent and we received many constructive comments as to the way forward.
"Community Enterprise will use the feedback from the meeting as part of their feasibility study and business plan; when that is ready we can go forward.
"The evidence from both the meeting and the survey will help us provide vital evidence to potential funders that the community are behind our plans for the hub.
"I was also delighted to hear the news that a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the harbour group and Crown Estate."
The stage is now hopefully set for the three-year programme to get under way which would form part of a wider plan to bring the village harbour into community ownership, a long-term dream of the PCHG.
"This is all tied in with an understanding with Crown Estate, who own the harbour and with whom we've been having high level talks with for some time now," he continued.
"The estate have bought the former Richmond Arms in Portgordon and the plan is for us to lease this from them for three years and turn it into the hub. It is in an ideal location, with one side on the main street through the village and the other looking onto the harbour area, to provide a range of services to both tourists and villagers.
"After the three years is up, the plans is for the Crown Estate to give the harbour group ownership of the Richmond Arms, various parcels of land around Portgordon and, of course, the harbour itself."
In order to help facilitate this transformation, Mr Hanover added that they were very close to the formation of a development trust and were working closely with Development Trust Association Scotland to that end.
Also at the meeting was local councillor Marc Macrae.
He commented: “I was delighted to take part in the online meeting which saw around 30 participants both speak and contribute passionately their desires and wishes for the community and the development of a focal hub.
“The village has so much to offer and the hub can only complement existing clubs, groups and facilities, not take away from them.
“I very much look forward to the continuing progress on this and hope that in the weeks and months ahead more conventional meetings and forums can take place allowing more and more people in the area the opportunity to take part in the planning and delivery of the community hub.”
Plans are now being made to establish a Harbour Management Advisory Group, which will help guide progress toward a successful harbour transfer.
Simon Hodge, Chief Executive of Crown Estate Scotland, said: “We’re committed to helping communities take a greater role in managing local assets.
"This new agreement represents a significant step towards transfer of ownership and we are excited to have reached this point.
“We have greatly appreciated all the work put into reaching this agreement by the local community in Portgordon, and we look forward to working closely in the coming years to help make the community’s vision a reality.”
The new was welcomed by local MSP Richard Lochhead, who recently chaired a meeting to bring Crown Estate Scotland, PCHG, and HIE together to try to push forward the community’s plans to take ownership of local assets.
He said: “I’m delighted that an agreement has now been reached and work can continue to allow the harbour group to take ownership of the local harbour.
“The future of the harbour has long been a priority for residents in Portgordon and I know that the harbour group have put in an incredible amount of work in recent years to get to this point – they deserve a huge amount of credit for the progress that’s been made and I’m excited to see how things move forward.
“I’m a big champion of community ownership and I really do believe that local people, who have the biggest stake in these assets, are very often the best people to oversee their development and regeneration. I’ll continue to do all I can as local MSP to support the harbour group in their efforts to regenerate the village and ensure a bright future for Portgordon.”
