SAVE SURF-TECH!

Thanks to local council craziness, Surf-Tech at Crosby Marina is under threat of closure, and needs your help.

Visitors to our General Discussion forum will already be aware of this issue. We’ve held off from putting it on the front page of the website as we’re waiting for a statement from Sefton Borough Council, but we’re still waiting and time is running out. 

Until we get an official response form the council, here’s the story as emailed to us and posted on the forum:

The situation

“Neil Wrigglesworth is the owner and manager of the shop Surf-Tech at Crosby Marina near Liverpool. The family business has been run by him for 20 years now, and is not only successful in its own right, it is also a beacon of safety, friendship, advice and support in the area. Sefton council are proposing to redevelop Crosby Marina next year, an exciting prospect and one that Neil and other watersports users at the lake should be welcoming. However, after viewing the plans it is clear that there is no place for Neil and his shop in the new infrastructure and he has been served notice that his existing shop will be demolished in the coming months. I believe this is a tragedy not just for Neil, but also for the other watersports users that are NOT catered for under the new proposals: Liverpool University Windsurfing Club, Crosby Windsurfing Association, Crosby Sailing Club and Merchant Taylor’s Sailing Section and the public in general.”

Sarah Cotton, SWA

Below there is a letter for you to copy and paste. Please sign it in your name and send it to the address list below at the bottom of this post – these are the councillors of Sefton Borough Council, who, on Thursday 10 January will make the final decision about the future of Neil and the windsurfers of the marina and lake site.

This decision will be made at 10:00am on Thursday, so this needs to be done quickly. Sorry about the last minute rush but the plans have been changed yet again at the eleventh hour and we only got to see them today.

Letter to copy and paste into an email

Dear Councillors
 
I am a representative of the CWA (Crosby Windsurfing Association) who have had a large and active presence on the Crosby marina site for over 25 years.
 
Unfortunately, looking at the recently released new planning proposal drawings for the site I can see no storage facilities for the CWA, which is crucial to our continued survival on the site.
 
We have received no written offers of a continuance of our storage containers being allowed on the site after Greenbank are handed the site from any council officer and indeed have had no contact at all with Greenbank, thus I hope you can recognize our concerns regarding our future as agreements and promises seem to be broken on a daily basis on this project and are therefore reluctant to accept verbal agreements.
 
Can I also express our support for Neil at Surf-tech, who, we feel, has been treated disgracefully through out this whole shambolic affair. To not have a chandlery and extreme sport shop on site is the breaking of another promise. Just where do the council officers responsible for this decision expect us and other lake users to purchase our specialized equipment, as Neil is the only watersports shop in the area for a 40-mile radius, and he has also kept this lake going after years of total neglect from Sefton Council.  
 

Unfortunately, it is for the reasons above we feel we can no longer support this project in its current form, and we are aware of other lake users reservations about the proposed new changes.
 
We look forward to receiving your comments on any of the above issues.

Address list – please copy and paste into a mail and send ASAP

[email protected] [email protected] ; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]