Burghead Boxing Day Swim cancelled
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THE Burghead Boxing Day Swim has been cancelled, leaving members of the event's committee "shocked and sickened".
Jamie Campbell, the swim's president, highlighted "penny-pinching" from Moray Council as one of the main reasons for the cancellation of the annual event, which has taken place since the 1980s.
It was revealed earlier this year that the charity swim, which last year raised £21,500 for local groups, would have to pay a levy of £100 to Moray Council if it was to go ahead as planned.
This week, two local businesses – Gleaner Oils and Carmichael Flooring – stepped forward offering to pay the fee. Despite this, the event has been cancelled.
Mr Campbell said: "As a committee, we are totally shocked and sickened that Moray Council made the decision to charge us a harbour licensing fee to hold this annual fundraising event in order to help fill their coffers.
"It is a sad day when an annual fundraising event has to be cancelled because the penny-pinching council see an opportunity to plunder the funds raised to help those in need, just to help them to balance the books."
Despite appreciating the support of both businesses offering cash, Jamie said the event can't rely on generous donations every year – and the next full council meeting, at which the motion of scrapping the levy will be discussed, is scheduled for November 27.
Unless an emergency council meeting is held before then to discuss scrapping the charge, which appears highly unlikely, the event will not go ahead.
Mr Campbell said the date is too late in terms of organising the event. He added: "We are very grateful to the businesses willing to donate but it is £100 this year and the money might not be there next year. The levy might be more than £100. We have other costs like the risk assessment, parking restrictions and insurance that all that has to be paid.
"As far as we are concerned the swim is cancelled and won't be on again until Moray Council let us know what is going on. If the council engage and communicate, and communication is key, we will do everything we can to get the swim going again.
"We have picked our charities and we want to go ahead with our swim, but we can't have it dragging on. We have heard nothing from the council so we have to assume they are not taking it seriously and it is being cancelled."
The annual swim is in its 34th year, and has raised nearly a quarter of a million pounds for local charities since it began. This year's charities were set to be Marie Curie, Keiran's Legacy and the Sub Aqua Club.
A council spokesperson said: "Councillors agreed in February to levy a £100 charge for community and charity events at Moray Council's six harbours. This is a flat fee, which has been charged to and paid by other event organisers, and goes towards recovering the cost of staff time involved in preparation.
"Officers are required to prepare or review risk assessments, check all necessary insurances are in place, ensure safety requirements are met, and safe access and parking is available.
"A notice of motion has been tabled to be considered at full council on November 27, this being the first appropriate meeting to which a motion could be brought forward for consideration. There will be no steps taken to recover the fee before the motion has been considered."
Moray MP Douglas Ross called for an emergency council meeting to be held to discuss scrapping the fee. He said: "What is disappointing is the council chose to defer discussing this issue until November. This means that the organisers can’t make a decision about the future of this event until one month before it’s due to go ahead.
"From my ten years as a councillor, I know group leaders took emergency meetings between normal meetings. I’ve written to Moray Council to ask that this matter be addressed urgently to save this iconic Moray annual event."
