Thursday, 22 August 2024

Thank you to everyone who expressed concern regarding incidents at Foyers Bay over the summer, this is much appreciated.  We would like to provide a little more context on the nature of these incidents, and also use this opportunity to give you a clearer picture of what the Foyers Bay steering group have been working on this summer.

Criminal Activity

In early July, it was reported that one or more individuals forcibly removed the access gate to Foyers Bay from its hinges to enable access.  Although the gate was put back, damage was done to the hinges, on top of the fact that this method of entry is illegal.

At some point between the dates of 20th July and 9th August, someone has damaged the padlock on this gate to such an extent that it is no longer possible for any of the existing keys to be used to open it, thus preventing community members with authorised access entering the facility. 

Both of these incidents have been reported to the police. 

On the back of the most recent incident, given that no community member now has access to Foyers Bay, it is now necessary to replace the keys for all existing users.

Steering Group update

The Foyers Bay steering group have been working very hard on a number of improvements at the site this year – the floating moorings have been installed and we hope to finalise the contractor for the next phase of landscaping works next week.  We have also been reviewing membership, terms and conditions and other associated documents so that we can run the Bay in a more controlled and professional manner.  As part of this, we have reviewed the current cost for use of and access to the Bay of a one-off deposit for a key of £6 and the decision has been taken that this needs to be adjusted.  As this is a deposit we cannot use this to invest back into the facility, so an annual membership fee was discussed and the principle agreed as follows:

• £200 refundable deposit paid on registration of membership.  This will be used to cover boat recovery if terms of use are not followed. 

• Annual membership fee of £10 per year paid in advance of membership renewal.
• Access to book the floating moorings at £5 per day with a maximum stay of 1 week unless mooring is not booked by another user then an extension can be granted.

This information is included in the Terms and Conditions of use, and the minutes of the meeting where this was discussed are available on the Foyers Bay project page on the Trust website.

In order to continue the improvements that the community would like to see happen at Foyers Bay, we need to raise money on top of the funding we receive from Stratherrick & Foyers Community Trust.  We have reviewed the costs of similar facilities in the Highlands and these prices are competitive.  By investing in this community-run facility, it increases the sense of community ownership and responsibility and in turn this will help prevent incidents such as the ones mentioned earlier from occurring again.  Running such a facility has its own costs – maintenance, inspections, security, electricity, to name a few, and we need investment to help cover these.

On completion of the above works, we hope next season to create a lochside picnic area and begin planning towards the provision of changing facilities and a boat maintenance shed on site.

Impact of the criminal activity on Foyers Bay improvements

Having to notify the community of incidents such as these is disappointing.  Many volunteer hours have been put into improving this facility for everybody’s continued use and enjoyment.  The impact of this behaviour now means that we have to invest in further security and replace damaged equipment. It is now important to us that those who previously held keys are able to have them replaced, and in order to do this in the most efficient manner we have brought forward the rolling-out of the new membership scheme.

We do take on board the concerns raised about the new charges and will discuss them at our next steering group meeting in two weeks’ time.  All are welcome to attend this meeting – date, time, location and agenda will be shared next week.

If you have any further concerns or would like further information on what has been outlined here please get in contact with either Malcolm (Malcolm-dir@sfctrust.org.uk) or Caroline (pc@sfctrust.org.uk).

2025

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