Treasurer hits back at ‘incorrect’ claims

The sailing club has hit back at “incorrect” comments it is holding up the survey work.

David Williams, who has been a member of the club for 31 years and treasurer for the last three years, said: “The claims from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation that the sailing club is responsible for the reported delay are incorrect.

In fact, he explained an access agreement had expired because the DIO had not managed to complete a study on time.

This was an issue the club raised and had actually agreed to extend.

Mr Williams, who as a member of the club’s management team works closely the with radium contamination sub committee, added: “The access agreement, which was signed by us in April 2016 and later extended, expired on January 31 2017 after the DIO had not managed to complete a four week survey project on time.

“We were aware of that expiry date and raised this with the DIO at a meeting, which we requested, on January 17.

“We wrote to them on January 23 and again on February 2, offering to sign another extension, but they didn’t respond.

“We also contacted Sepa on February 10 to see if they could help progress since we’d been advised that survey work was now due to start around February 22.”

Mr Williams stressed that the club had been very proactive and had cooperated fully with the DIO and third parties, including Sepa.

“We are however frustrated with the lack of progress and commitment from the DIO to address a number of practical concerns that affect our 450 sailing club members and the wider community, which we have been trying to resolve with them for over two years.

“Examples include making provision for us to maintain and develop the club while contamination remains within the ground, ensuring the design does not increase the risk of flooding around the grounds, longer term maintenance considerations, reaching an understanding of post-remediation health and safety issues which the club will be left to contend with,” he said.