Agenda and minutes

Due to the absence of the Chairman and Vice Chairman, it was necessary to elect a Chairman for the day.

Councillor Jarman was nominated and duly seconded, a vote was taken, and the result was as follows:

RESOLVED:

THAT Councillor Chris Jarman be elected as Chairman for the day.

To confirm as a true record the Minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2022.

That the minutes of the meeting held on 12 January 2022 be confirmed.

To invite Members to declare any interest they might have in the matters on the agenda.

There were no declarations received at this stage.

Questions may be asked without notice but to guarantee a full reply at the meeting, a question must be put including the name and address of the questioner by delivery in writing or by electronic mail to Democratic Services at democratic.services@iow.gov.uk, no later than two clear working days before the start of the meeting. Therefore the deadline for written questions will be Friday 25 March 2022.

Three written questions were received and read out by the Chairman

Question from Rachel Bridgeland PQ/06/22

Question from Guy Eades PQ/07/22

Question from Christopher Dodd PQ/08/22

To consider and approve the annual accounts for Newport Harbour and Ventnor Harbour.

The Assistant Director of Neighbourhoods confirmed that this was a yearly report that the committee had a statutory duty to scrutinise so that the statement of accounts could be approved and sent off to the Department for Transport DFT for signing off, where they were to be then independently audited. It was explained that the accounts were presented in a slightly different way to how the council normally presented its accounts, as they had to conform to Companies House requirements.

RESOLVED:

THAT the accounts be approved

To consider the current accounts of Newport Harbour up to the position as of 28 February 2022, and to look at the future forecast for the rest of the financial year.

It was stated that there had been a slight increase in expenditure, but there had been an increase in leasing income.

The mooring fees at the Folly Inn had not fared so well as they were still facing repercussions from the pandemic and had not met their financial target. Despite that, the outlook was deemed as encouraging for the coming months.

RESOLVED:

THAT the report be noted

It was highlighted that the greatest financial outgoings were the contracted services, in particular the removal of seaweed from the harbour. It was stated that there had been an £18,000 overspend and there were only two sources of income, the lease of the fisheries, and berthing fees.

It was forecasted that the overspend on the seaweed removal would most likely reach £23,000 by the end of the year. It was confirmed that the finance coming from the berthing fees was on track, but the removal of the seaweed was an ongoing concern.

The committee asked if officers were aware of any other parties interested in taking over the seaweed removal contract. In response it was stated that officers were aware of interested parties, however the current contract had been extended by one more year to the existing contractor. This was seen as a holding position, and the situation might well change after that through the next tender for the management of the harbour.

RESOLVED:

THAT the report be noted

The Senior Harbour Master presented a report covering navigational risk an operational Information as well as the results of periodic inspections.

It was highlighted that during the past three months, two new Duty Harbour Masters had been hired along with two new relief Duty Harbour Masters. This was viewed as positive in terms of the staffing the harbour as this enabled a manned presence either side of high water and it freed up more time for the Senior Harbour Master to attend to other duties.

It was stated that the pontoons had been prepared for the season and that the harbour launch had been inspected and serviced. The works to the Newport Harbour walls were nearly completed.

The safety incident regarding the reporting of a collision of a rib into the quay was deemed as not serious as there were no reported injuries and no damage to the harbour wall.

The functionality of the ladders was questioned, and it was explained that the ladders were of a retractable type and more awkward to use as they were more light weight, and one was slightly damaged. It was hoped that since the harbour had been recently dredged, fixed ladders could be installed.

The northern harbour car park had been closed for a week as a safety precaution because of three back-to-back storms and the roof of the Classic Boat Museum building had blown off. It was also confirmed that one boat had suffered storm damage

RESOLVED:

THAT the report be noted

The Strategic Manager Commercial Services presented a review of the ‘Get Well Plan’ for Newport harbour.

It was stated that a number of items had been completed and that the consultation on the General Directions had concluded.

Two responses had been received regarding the consultation, one which was positive, and the other was a query about a particular paragraph where the wording needed to be amended. Consultation with the harbour’s marine lawyers and David Foster had taken place and they were now awaiting a response back to see if all parties were now happy.

It was commented on that the new staffing restructuring had freed up more time for the Senior Harbour Master to fulfil other duties.

It was stated that David Foster and Marico had been re-appointed as designated person, the process having gone out to competitive procurement.

There was an acknowledgement of just how much hard work had been carried out in getting the ‘Get Well Plan’ to the stage it was at now.

RESOLVED:

THAT the plan be noted 

The Strategic Manager Commercial Services presented a review of the ‘Get Well Plan’ for Ventnor Harbour.

It was stated that Ventnor Harbour reflected the general approach undertaken at Newport Harbour but not so many items had been completed as the Senior Harbour Master had been without other support.

Now that there had been new staff recruited, this would free time up for him to get the documentation up to date. It was hoped that by the next time the committee met, most, if not all of the plan, would be completed.

It was stated that improvements would mirror the Newport plan.

RESOLVED:

THAT the plan be noted.

To guarantee a reply to a question, a question  must be submitted in writing or by electronic mail to democratic.services@iow.gov.uk no later than 2pm on Monday, 28 March, 2022. A question may be asked at the meeting without prior notice but in these circumstances there is no guarantee that a full reply will be given at the meeting.

Cllr Price raised a question about the private unadopted road (Folly Lane) and its maintenance as it had recently come into his ward boundary. He asked if the Council had previously contributed towards its upkeep along with the other residents/stakeholders.

It was believed that the Council had made a small contribution to the upkeep of the road in the past, although this would be looked into by the Council’s legal team.

A question was asked about the expected visitor numbers at Newport Harbour in the coming summer. In response, it was stated that historic visitor numbers remained static and now that the harbour had more staff, it would likely attract more visitors, so the outlook was optimistic.