Queenborough ATL closed

Cantata

Cantata

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Bad news indeed....the All Tide Landing has been closed for the foreseeable future. The owners, the local Yacht Club, say there are no funds available to meet the cost of necessary repairs.
The ATL has been a headache for those responsible for it for years. Trouble is, it is a floating structure secured only by anchors, there are no piles, so it's vulnerable in strong winds. The Harbour Trust were in negotiations to take over its management but for whatever reason these fell through, the QYC wishing to retain control.
Those of us who used to visit the place and spend money in local businesses (including the Yacht Club) will be hoping this gets sorted by next Spring.
A typical example of something that would never be allowed to happen the other side of the English Channel !
A press report here: http://www.kentonline.co.uk/times_guardian/news/appeal-as-all-tide-landing-is-8482/
 
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Blimey, just when we thought it was all going so well.

Anything to be done Dick?
Local council, lottery, QYC, QHT, whatever?

This mustn't be allowed to close, it is just getting going again.
 
really sad and I know I'm likely to start a row and some may consider me snippy, but it just goes to show that you can't have it both ways. There are plenty of threads on these forums where people want to moan about paying a fiver for the benefit of using a landing somewhere or the other. if it's not paid for, then you lose it.
 
Its an odd world - Medway Council are just about to re-instate the pontoon at Sun Pier, while the ATL is closed (different council, of course). Hopefully the ATL won't be out of action as long as Sun Pier was.
My club (Gravesend Sailing Club) is in the process right now of getting a half-tide pontoon and walkway installed at considerably more cost than £60k, all raised by members, so it can be done - the down side is that it has taken 20 years of fund raising.
Its a pity that Swale Council ahd control for so long over the moorings etc - they clearly didn't understand the potential of what they had got.
 
Hi Everyone.
It is without a doubt sad to see the ATL closed.The walkway has become unsafe to use and requires substantial funds to repair it,this seems to be beyond QYC's budget.We,Queenborough Harbour Trust,have offered to take over the running and management of the landing which has been rejected by QYC.
It would be a great loss to the community,local business and seafarers for the landing to remain closed.

After a fantastic summer we felt as if we were putting Queenborough back on the map and were finally providing a service for harbour users.The Harbour Trust will strive for continued growth of the Harbour and will do everything possible to ensure the good reputation we gained last season continues.

Please watch this space.

Phil
 
Hopefully it will be repaired and then organised a bit better with regard to the gate/tokens. We stopped by in the summer and trekked up to the supermarket for ice & supplies on a swelteringly hot day, then found that none of the places which were supposed to sell tokens had any (YC shut as it was a weekday). The pub were clearly unimpressed that they had asked the YC for tokens and not been given any, apparently this was a regular occurrence. Eventually we asked a guy working on his boat who called someone he knew who he thought might be able to spare a couple - she kindly turned up on her bike and sold us 2 tokens at 2 x face value. We were beginning to wonder whether we were going to have to swim for it from the slipway. Maybe the YC would have had more takings if they made them a bit more available.
 
It would be useful to know what is the problem between the Trust and the Club. It seems odd at the least that the club insists on keeping control of the landing even if it means it may go out of use. I assume there is some sort of conflict we know nothing about. Someone looking at this thread must know - a hint would be good, unless it is felt that public linen washing would make things worse.
 
QYC have done a great job over the years maintaining a difficult structure.Whoever runs it in the future requires funding,hopefully we can all work together to ensure the landing is up and running by next season
 
Phil,
would it useful to have a visitors view available to the effort to fund it, after all, we must represent a fair chunk of the revenue for ongoing activities.
Perhaps a blog web page where we could post our comments?
In addition, the big wide world has a lot of very useful (and influential) people who might actively support the effort and have a different perspective on fund raising than local interest?
 
FullCircle said:
Phil,
would it useful to have a visitors view available to the effort to fund it, after all, we must represent a fair chunk of the revenue for ongoing activities.
Perhaps a blog web page where we could post our comments?
In addition, the big wide world has a lot of very useful (and influential) people who might actively support the effort and have a different perspective on fund raising than local interest?
Click to expand...

Great Idea thanks for the positive comment.Will look into it Cheers
 
PhilQueenborough said:
Great Idea thanks for the positive comment.Will look into it Cheers
Click to expand...


As a frequent visitor to Queenborough I can confirm that the Queenborough Harbour Trust have certainly smartened the place up this year and made it more welcoming to visitors.

The regular, reliable trot boat service provided by QHT to get crews ashore can only have been of benefit to the local businesses.

Phil and the team should be proud of their achievement this year.

Best of luck with 2014 chaps.
 
xyachtdave said:
As a frequent visitor to Queenborough I can confirm that the Queenborough Harbour Trust have certainly smartened the place up this year and made it more welcoming to visitors.

The regular, reliable trot boat service provided by QHT to get crews ashore can only have been of benefit to the local businesses.

Phil and the team should be proud of their achievement this year.

Best of luck with 2014 chaps.
Click to expand...

Cheers Dave see you next season
 
I will be coming back anyway, you can still land a tender on the slipway.
Another thing, now the trot boats won't have anywhere to tie up. So if they can't use the ATL, how can they collect mooring fees? Even less money coming in if that's the case. Or perhaps the trot boat can live on a buoy, and the crew get to it by the dinghy off the slipway?
Could the trot boat sevice embark people from the slipway, or is it too shallow or slippery to be safe for that purpose?
I hope it all gets sorted before the spring anyway best of British Phil!
 
jerrytug said:
I will be coming back anyway, you can still land a tender on the slipway.
Another thing, now the trot boats won't have anywhere to tie up. So if they can't use the ATL, how can they collect mooring fees? Even less money coming in if that's the case. Or perhaps the trot boat can live on a buoy, and the crew get to it by the dinghy off the slipway?
Could the trot boat sevice embark people from the slipway, or is it too shallow or slippery to be safe for that purpose?
I hope it all gets sorted before the spring anyway best of British Phil!
Click to expand...

Hi Jerry unfortunately it's a bit shallow on the slipway for the trot boat to operate safely.I intend to still be about on the river even if I have to sleep on it :).Having said that it's still early days and a solution will hopefully be found.See you next season mate
 
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