Lympstone Fishery & Harbour Association Newsletter - Spring 2010

The Harbour Board welcomes all members of the Association to the start of a new season afloat. We would like to thank all of you who helped with working parties & who, by observing the rules & paying your dues by the deadline helped to lighten the administrative burden. Sadly a few members have either not read the Rule Book or can't remember what's in it. To help here are some important tips:

· Members are given a license for a mooring or a place in the harbour for one year at a time. Your license is renewed when you pay your dues on time. If they are not paid on time you may be struck off the list of members and this will mean you will have to remove your mooring tackle and you will lose any place you had in the harbour. The payment deadline is on your invoice.

· Your license is for the facilities for which you first applied (a mooring for a specific vessel, a place in the harbour or on the hard). If you intend to change your boat, move your mooring or use another member's mooring or wish to use any other facility then please contact the Harbour Board in advance.

· There are no moorings in the brook or alongside the harbour wall. Both may be used by members to load and unload but if you need to make repairs or stay for a longer period of time contact the harbour master, in advance.

· There is no storage for empty trailers in any part of the harbour.

· Members may bring vehicles to the harbour for towing and for loading or unloading only. There is no parking. Every infringement of this rule advertises to others that the slipway and the hard are car parks. They are not.

· All members were sent a copy of the rules in July 2009 and members who joined since then have been sent a copy. They are posted on the Lympstone Sailing Club website www.lympstonesailingclub.org.uk Please read the rules.

The Board will always try to meet the reasonable needs of members but the basic message is ask first. There are now more applications for membership than free places so by breaking the rules you will inevitably inconvenience other members. Help the Board keep this remarkable facility the cheapest of its kind in the country and something enjoyed by all members equally. If you need to contact the Harbour Board you can now do so by email to harbour.board@btconnect.com

You may well have noticed that the ramp at Sowden End has been closed to vehicles. This was done at the request of the Parish Council and in consultation with Devon County Council, Natural England and the Exe Estuary Partnership to protect the Estuary which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (a registered SSSI). Vehicles are prohibited from driving on to the foreshore but pedestrians are welcome. Members should note that new legislation makes tipping, polluting or otherwise environmentally compromising the estuary an offence with an associated fine of up to £2,500.