Vail Williams LLP, real estate advisers to Administrators RSM Tenon, offers Bembridge Harbour for sale

http://www.boatingbusiness.com/news101/bembridge-harbour-up-for-sale

News Release – 22nd August, 2011

Bembridge Harbour Trust holds further community consultation meetings in Seaview and St. Helens

Following Bembridge Harbour Trust’s first public consultation meeting which was held in the Village Hall, Bembridge on 15th July, the Trust held two further meetings last week in Seaview and St. Helens to involve more local residents with its plans to purchase Bembridge Harbour and to capture suggestions for the running of the Harbour if their bid was successful.

Both evening events were packed, the Seaview meeting being held at the Sea View Yacht Club last Wednesday, and St Helens meeting at the Community Centre last Thursday. Each meeting concluded with a lively question and answer session showing the deep interest the local Communities have concerning the future of their Harbour.

Further meetings are planned in the local communities during the autumn.

These two meetings followed the first public meeting in Bembridge when the appeal for financial pledges to “Save Bembridge Harbour” was launched. The Trust’s aim is to raise not less than £1m. Pledges towards this target may be made on the PLEDGE FORM available on this web-site.

It is understood that the Harbour Administrators will make available details of how the sale process will proceed and terms shortly.

News Release – 16th July, 2011

Bembridge Harbour Trust held its first public meeting on 15 July to involve local people in its forthcoming bid for Bembridge Harbour

Bembridge Harbour Trust, the charity formed to buy Bembridge Harbour, will set up a Harbour Commission modelled on the Cowes Harbour Commission if its bid is successful. This was revealed by Mr Michael MacInnes, the chairman of the Trust, when he spoke to a packed Village Hall in Bembridge of local residents from East Wight and other parts of the Island on Friday evening (15 July).

Mr MacInnes was addressing the first public meeting of the Trust which was organised to involve local communities in the Trust’s plans to purchase the harbour and seek their support for the forthcoming bid.

This was the first of a series of public meetings the Trust will arrange in St. Helens, Brading, Nettlestone and Seaview over the coming months, he said.

Among the audience were the Island’s MP, Mr Andrew Turner, Councillors Jonathan Bacon and Patrick Joyce, Parish Councillors, leading businessmen and representatives of local interest groups and societies in the area including representatives from local sailing clubs.

The Trust’s aim, Mr MacInnes made clear, was to buy and manage the harbour on behalf of the local communities in perpetuity. Once the large backlog of restoration and maintenance had been achieved, the harbour would be run as a commercial enterprise with all profits retained to pay for on-going maintenance and to improve the harbour’s facilities.

Mr MacInnes explained that he had recently spoken to the Administrators who had informed him that an outline sales document for the combined businesses and assets of the harbour companies would be published soon. Mr MacInnes explained that until these documents were seen the Trust was only guessing what would be for sale and at what price.

He explained in answer to questions how the bid would be funded that the Trust had individuals ready to support the Trust on a purely charitable basis as well as a commercial consortium which, if no alternative was available, could purchase the properties surrounding the harbour and hold them. There would be terms allowing the Trust to repurchase the properties on favourable terms.

Mr MacInnes said that the harbour itself should not command a high price. Any potential bidder, he said, would soon discover that a great deal of money needed to be spent in restoring and renovating the harbour to make it a viable operation. He indicated that over £1/2m would be needed to dredge the channels and pontoon areas in the harbour and further similar sums would be needed to repair the pontoons, harbour walls and groynes. This is why the Trust was seeking to raise £1m of charitable funds from the public, a certain amount of which was already pledged.

In answer to a question it was acknowledged that it may be necessary, if there were other bidders, to pay more for the Harbour than it was commercially worth. However the Trust’s wish was that the majority of charitable funds raised would be spent on essential work to rectify years of neglect in the harbour. It was pointed out that the harbour had not been dredged for eight years.

Mr MacInnes also explained that he had recently led a delegation of fellow Trustees, Mr Andrew Turner MP, Island Councillor Edward Giles and Council senior official, Stuart Love, and Mr Robin Powell of the Bembridge and St. Helens Harbour Users Group to see the Ports Minister, Mr Mike Penning MP. The outcome of the meeting was that the Minister had written to the administrators informing them that the Secretary of State for Transport was required to give prior written consent to any sale. Mr MacInnes said he felt that a community-led Trust would be exactly what the Government would like to see owning Bembridge harbour. This necessary referral to the Secretary of State could also discourage inappropriate bidders from acquiring the harbour.

Mr MacInnes also thanked the Solent Protection Society for their support and said that Mr Bear Grylls, the Chief Scout and TV adventure celebrity, who had many local connections with Bembridge, had offered to help the Trust by serving on the Advisory Board.

Taking questions, the Vicar of Bembridge, Canon Andrew Menniss and Councillor Bacon both urged the Trust to give local people the opportunity to become fully involved with the Trust’s plans. Mr MacInnes agreed that this was an important matter for consideration. After the meeting Mr MacInnes said it was exactly this type of question, airing local concerns, that had made Friday’s meeting so useful to him and the Trustees. They would be looking into the constitution of the Trust and looking at the way other similar Trusts were run before making recommendations.
Finally, he invited the audience to make pledges to support the “Saving
Bembridge Harbour” Appeal. Any sums pledged, he confirmed, would not be called in unless the Trust’s bid for the harbour was successful.

The meeting lasted over 90 minutes. It was proposed that the next meetings will be held in St. Helens and Seaview during August.

Bembridge Harbour Trust News Release
26 April, 2011

Bembridge Harbour Trust to renew bid for Bembridge Harbour

Following the collapse of the two companies that operate Bembridge harbour into administration, Bembridge Harbour Trust will renew its attempts to buy the harbour and associated properties.

This was announced by the chairman of the Trustees, Michael MacInnes, following meetings in Bembridge over the Easter weekend.

Meanwhile the harbour is continuing to be operated as a going concern by the administrators who are expected to package the two companies into one for sale shortly.

The Trust, a charity, was formed nearly four years ago by concerned local residents who feared that the future of the harbour was threatened by years of neglect and poor maintenance.

The Trust’s principal aim is to buy the harbour, restore it and to ensure its ownership in perpetuity for the benefit of the communities of Bembridge and St. Helens.

Last year, the Trust made three bids for the harbour, having taken professional advice on the valuation of the harbour and its properties, but these were rejected as too low by the then owner.

“We now have a marvellous opportunity to finally buy the harbour and, if we are successful, put right years of neglect that threaten the future of the harbour as a ‘working’ harbour for sailors, fishermen and marine businesses alike”, said Mr. MacInnes. “We are ready to take on this responsibility for the benefit of everybody who enjoys the harbour for its sailing, wild life, angling, walking or as one of the Isle of Wight’s major tourist and recreational amenities”.

Mr MacInnes said that the new owner of the harbour would have to spend in the region of £1/2m dredging the harbour as this had not been done for eight years and water levels were very low in places. Other remedial work would have to be carried out on the pontoons, the quay walls and visiting sailors’ amenities.

Mr MacInnes has already had a preliminary meeting with the administrators and advised them of the Trust wish to bid.

The Trust has over 170 founder members drawn from residents in Bembridge, St. Helens, Brading and Seaview and has four distinguished patrons, Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, Lord Brabazon of Tara, Peter Nicholson CBE and Maldwin Drummonds OBE as well as an advisory board representing many local business and social interests.

“With our members and advisers, we also have wide commercial support through the local communities who have the skills and expertise so we can get the harbour up and running properly again – if we get the chance to buy it,” said Mr. MacInnes.

Ends.

Further information:

Michael MacInnes, chairman Bembridge Harbour Trust:
tel.: 018983 872108 or email: michael.macinnes@btinternet.com

Donald Biddle, deputy chairman, Bembridge Harbour Trust:
Tel.: 01983 875561 or email: dfbiddle@gmail.com

Note. Bembridge Harbour Improvements Company and Maritime and Leisure Investments Limited were placed in administration on 13 April following a winding up petition by HM Customs and Revenue.

Bembridge Harbour Trust is a registered charity, number 1120225 and is also a company limited by guarantee under company number 05671595.