WORK ON INDUSTRIAL units at a Moray harbour that had forced the moving of a landmark wrecked fishing boat has been completed.
Earlier this year Moray Council warned that the ‘Harvest Reaper’ would be destroyed unless a new owner could be found willing to pay for its removal.
The former fishing boat had been salvaged after running aground in the 1980’s – but for many years lay unattended on a hard standing at Burghead Harbour.
In January the local authority appealed for the owner to move it – or lose it, and that resulted in a last-minute reprieve when local man Dan Ralph teamed up with Elgin based plumber Jimmy Wiseman to save the boat, which was subsequently moved.
Now the work that sparked the issue in the first place has been completed – four new industrial units built on the harbour, funded in part by the Scottish Government and the Moray Fisheries Local Action Group using European Fisheries Fund (EFF) Axis 4 programme funding.
The new units range in size from 58sq metres to 110sq metres and boast easy access (now that the Harbour Reaper is gone), parking and disabled toilet facilities.
The new premises will provide five or six jobs for new or growing businesses in the area, with three of the units already leased – to a marine engineering firm, an artist and a co-operative which provides training and recycles furniture and wood. Interest has also been expressed in the fourth unit.
The project marks the last tranche of EFF Axis 4 funding, with the programme scheduled to close at the end of October.
The programme has been administered by Moray Council and over the past three years has helped to fund 21 projects ranging from a joint seafood initiative led by the Moray Firth Partnership, new and upgraded heritage facilities in Burghead, Lossiemouth and Buckie and a new sailing school in Cullen.