The positive outcome of the survey was reported to GCC on 15 Jan 2018 and so it was agreed to form a steering group to move the project forward.
At this point, responsibility for the project was passed to the newly formed steering group; Glenfinnan Community Facilities (GCF). The inaugural meeting was held on 6 March 2018.
The GCC chairman opened the meeting with a brief history of the proposal and the background to the availability of the Marine Harvest shorebase building at Slatach pier. He also gave a summary of the potential lease agreement. £1000 per annum rent, 5 year sub-lease with the option to extend, Marine Harvest would retain the slipway, rent review every 5 years tied to RPI. The building would be returned in the way it was received or returned with improvements. It was also noted that the building had suffered water damage due to a burst pipe that had since been repaired by Marine Harvest.
The main actions arising from this first meeting were to
This latter action being on advice from Highland Council that a Community Council should not hold any lease as it leaves office-bearers open to liability. A SCIO is also a more appropriate legal structure to apply for grant funding and to manage the execution of capital projects.
Charitable status was granted on 4 June 2018, and Glenfinnan Community Facilities (SCIO) was born.
Coincidentally, but not without later significance, the local business Loch Shiel Cruises, which operates from Slatach pier, was put up for sale in March 2018 and was quickly acquired by Ali Mansour and Rosie Frampton.
On 23 July 2018 GCF had first sight of the draft lease from Marine Harvest’s lawyers and unfortunately there were issues, some superficial, others more fundamental.
The landlord was incorrectly identified as Highland and Islands Enterprise, but in fact the building and associated ground had been transferred from Highlands and Islands Enterprise to Loch Shiel Jetties Trust on 17 September 1999 along with any leases that were in place at that time, which included the Marine Harvest lease.
More importantly, the lease lacked detail in two key areas. There was no map or written description of the extents of the property being leased, and parking rights were unspecified. It was not clear whether the adjacent parking area was a public road, or privately owned. These omissions ultimately proved to be quite significant.
Another discussion point was the term of the lease. The term proposed was 5 years (albeit with an option to extend), partly because GCF were cautious about committing to a longer term in case the facility was under-utilised. But the draft lease also specified that on the expiry of the lease any improvements including fixtures and fittings added by GCF were to become Marine Harvest's property. Given the relatively short term, there was concern that this would significantly limit the scope of refurbishments that could reasonably be justified.
Despite these concerns, and in the expectation that they could be resolved, work started immediately on preparing a planning application for change of use and refurbishment of the building. The justification for this apparently pre-emptive move being that if the application was declined then there would be no purpose in entering a lease agreement with Marine Harvest.
Planning application 18/05007/FUL for “Change of use of vacant former Marine Harvest Shorebase to provide community facilities, including internal/external alterations, plus provision of sewage treatment installation, car parking and external deck” was lodged on 2 November 2018.
The location plan submitted with the application included the whole car park area because, given the nature of the proposed new use, it was necessary to specify a certain minimum number of parking bays, but this plan was consciously speculative, because GCF had not at that point received a lease plan from Marine Harvest.
Two comments were received during the consultation period.
The first, received on 15 Nov 2018, raised three points of concern.
The objection did not prevent consent being granted, but did result in the addition of a condition requiring that parking bays and pedestrian routes be clearly marked. The other points were also noted by GCF and ultimately fed into a later decision that the facility would be for the use of local residents only, that the toilet facilities would not be available to the public, and that the hours of operation would be limited to music off by 10PM, building cleared by 10:30PM.