A yacht club says it may have to close if plans for a new clubhouse do not get the go-ahead.
Yacht clubs have been based at the current Royal Northern and Clyde Yachting Club (RNCYC) clubhouse in Rhu (above) for nearly 80 years – the Royal Northern moved there from Bute in 1937, and it has been headquarters of RNCYC since clubs merged in 1978.
But the club has told Argyll and Bute Council planning officials that costs are too prohibitive to continue in its current premises on the Gareloch.
Planners are now considering the a masterplan for the Pier Road site, which includes car parking, storage facilities, a slipway and a boat parking area along with the new clubhouse. It is the first phase of planned development of the marina as a whole.
The plans are now available to be viewed by the public, and comments can be submitted. Feedback from council officers is expected by late May.
The current B-listed clubhouse, which dates back to 1857 and sits in 4.6 acres, was put on the market by Savills in 2016.
At that stage the club said plans were ‘well advanced’ for a move to a purpose-built clubhouse at Rhu Marina.
The masterplan said: “RNCYC plans to relocate from its current premises in Rhu to a new clubhouse to be erected on the RNCYC site at Rhu Marina.
“Its current premises are no longer fit for its purposes, being a large Victorian listed building, with inadequate access to the water for, particularly, youth training and dinghy sailing, an area of activity which the club needs to develop and expand. It can only do that from purpose-built premises and facilities at the marina.
“The cost of maintaining, repairing, insuring and heating and lighting the listed building is simply prohibitive, and has caused the club to be in an annual loss-making position in recent years.
“Unless the club moves to more suitable premises at the marina, with a purpose-built slipway and boat parking area, it is inevitable that in the not very distant future the club will have to close its doors and cease to exist. Almost 200 years of yachting history on the Clyde will be lost.”
It adds that there would be ‘implications’ in respect of the listed building and that the club previously ran a successful junior sailing programme at the marina, involving at its height around 40 young sailors, several of whom went on to represent the UK in the Olympic Games.
In 2019 a pre-application consultation was lodged with the council on behalf of the club by Glasgow agents North Planning and Development. Which would see the clubhouse onverted into nine homes and six new-build residential blocks, split into 12 terraced and 25 ‘flatted units’ built on the site.
The statement continued: “RNCYC intends to develop the RNCYC area by way of the construction of a new purpose-built clubhouse, with car parking, storage facilities, a slipway and a boat parking area.
“This will enable the club to direct its resources towards expanding its sailing and other water sports activities, and in particular youth sailing and training, providing a valuable resource for the local community.
“It will also enable the club to run more major events, bringing activity and benefit to the local area.
“It is the intention of the club to work with the marina owners and tenants in partnership, to further the success of the marina as a whole.
“The marina has never had any proper social facilities for its berth holders or visitors. The new clubhouse will provide such facilities, thereby enhancing the desirability of the marina as a destination.”
To view the plans, visit the council’s website and use the refence number 23/00615/MPLAN.
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