Joined
·
9,903 Posts
It has come to my attention via a lengthy telephone conversation last night, that creditable sources confirmed that Stirling Council are now actively looking to offload these fishings, which, in this time of extreme austerity have become a huge burden on the ratepayer. There has been no official announcement, but I am led to believe it is somewhere in the pipeline and external, somewhat unnoficial meetings have already taken place between a governing body and one interested party to formulate some sort of rescue plan.The very last thing the river needs if for the Stirling fishings to fall into a free for all category, that would be bad news for the whole system.
With the hugely unlikely scenario that a private syndicate would take the fishings on, as they would require the S.A.S. to bailliff their asset, it clearly falls to those anglers with the river at heart to devise a Business Plan and negotiate with both Stirling Council and the F.D.S.F.B. a 5 year plan that would clearly need to be underpinned with external support and internal concessions for it to be a viable proposition, as, in it's present form, running a deficit of some £200k a year to the Council, clearly is not.
Therefore, moving on, I have been approached to be involved in a Steering Group which will be charged with devising and managing the Business case on behalf of the anglers. The River Forth Anglers Association remains in place and that is the obvious vehicle to host this proposed initiative which would encompass both the Stirling and Callander fishings. Rod N Line, our own Harry Shaw, is the principle mover and shaker who contacted me last night and, since that call I have already I have already engaged the services of my good friend and Professional adviser, D.J. on here, Davy Jones. None of the 3 of us is in any way interested in taking up official posts as we do need younger people to actually administer and drive an agreed plan should this come to fruition but will be happy to take part in all negotiations and meetings through to final engagement in a legal leasing situation. I understand that Jim Harkins is also involved.
So, therefore, you have the very skeletal bones of a body that clearly needs to add meat to give confidence in the 1st instance, so I invite all your responses, via open post or private message so that we can gauge opinions. Any of you who have any differences with any of the names mentioned should put these aside and instead think and contribute to a process that will ensure the fishings remain in the hands of the local anglers for the foreseeable future as all 3 names initially are committed to stand aside after any agreement is made, although always available for consultation.
Please get in touch, it does seem inevitable that it is only a matter of time that some sort of announcement will be made and it is best to get the ball rolling now.
With the hugely unlikely scenario that a private syndicate would take the fishings on, as they would require the S.A.S. to bailliff their asset, it clearly falls to those anglers with the river at heart to devise a Business Plan and negotiate with both Stirling Council and the F.D.S.F.B. a 5 year plan that would clearly need to be underpinned with external support and internal concessions for it to be a viable proposition, as, in it's present form, running a deficit of some £200k a year to the Council, clearly is not.
Therefore, moving on, I have been approached to be involved in a Steering Group which will be charged with devising and managing the Business case on behalf of the anglers. The River Forth Anglers Association remains in place and that is the obvious vehicle to host this proposed initiative which would encompass both the Stirling and Callander fishings. Rod N Line, our own Harry Shaw, is the principle mover and shaker who contacted me last night and, since that call I have already I have already engaged the services of my good friend and Professional adviser, D.J. on here, Davy Jones. None of the 3 of us is in any way interested in taking up official posts as we do need younger people to actually administer and drive an agreed plan should this come to fruition but will be happy to take part in all negotiations and meetings through to final engagement in a legal leasing situation. I understand that Jim Harkins is also involved.
So, therefore, you have the very skeletal bones of a body that clearly needs to add meat to give confidence in the 1st instance, so I invite all your responses, via open post or private message so that we can gauge opinions. Any of you who have any differences with any of the names mentioned should put these aside and instead think and contribute to a process that will ensure the fishings remain in the hands of the local anglers for the foreseeable future as all 3 names initially are committed to stand aside after any agreement is made, although always available for consultation.
Please get in touch, it does seem inevitable that it is only a matter of time that some sort of announcement will be made and it is best to get the ball rolling now.
