AT A MEETING of the RIVER HAMBLE HARBOUR BOARD held at Warsash Sailing Club, Shore Road, Warsash on Friday 1 February 2008.

PRESENT:

Hampshire County Council

p Councillor J.V. Bryant

p Councillor K. Evans

p Councillor K. House

Independent Members

p Mr. T. Lovell

a Mr. C. Moody

p Dr. S. Tomson

Marine Director

p Mr. D. Evans

Also Present

Councillor Dr. R. J. Ellis, Chairman of the River Hamble Harbour Management Committee,

Captain M. Capon, Designated Person (Port Marine Safety Code) and Tony Clatworthy, Harbour Master.

184. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

An apology for absence was received from Mr C. Moody.

185. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

All Members who believe they have a personal or prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting must declare that interest and, having regard to the circumstances described in paragraphs 9, 10, 11 and 12 of the County Council's Code of Conduct, consider whether to leave the meeting whilst the matter is discussed, save for exercising any right to speak in accordance with paragraph 12 of the Code. The declaration should be made at the time of the relevant debate.

Dr. S. Tomson declared a personal interest as a member of the Royal Southern Yacht Club and as a mooring holder. Mr D. Evans declared a personal interest as a mooring holder and a member of Warsash Sailing Club and the Royal Air Force Yacht Club. Mr T. Lovell declared a personal interest as a trustee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club, as a mooring holder, a Director of Cowes Week Limited and a Director of Rope Walk Limited (the holding Company of the Royal Southern Yacht Club).

Councillor K. Evans declared an interest due to being on Fareham Borough Council's Planning Committee. Councillor J. V. Bryant declared an interest due to being on Fareham Borough Council.

186. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 23 November 2007 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

187. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

(a) The Chairman reported the receipt of a letter from Mr C. Brookes, Chairman of

the River Hamble Mooring Holders Association expressing concerns about

proposed changes to the definition of Secondary Channels as suggested in the

revised Glossary of Terms and in particular the interpretation in the chart

attached to the Definitions, as presented to the Board at its meeting on 20 July

2007. The Marine Director explained that the Strategic Principles document

whilst approved by Hampshire County Council had not been formally adopted

by the Board and the chart had been used merely as illustration. Further

consultation would be carried out in due course.

(b) The Chairman reported receipt of a letter from Dr. Susie Tomson about

Hampshire County Council's Draft Minerals Plan and her concerns about the

potential impact that the proposed sites at Hamble and Warsash could have on

the River. The Chairman suggested holding a workshop on this matter and

Councillor Evans felt that timing was important and considered that a workshop

should be held as soon as possible. The Marine Director advised that any

investigation into the potential impacts would have to be carried out by someone

other than the Harbour Authority. The Director of Recreation and Heritage

advised that he had already notified the Head of Planning and Development in

the Environment Department at Hampshire County Council that this was due to

be discussed by the Harbour Board.

188. MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

HELD ON 4 JANUARY 2008

The Board considered the minutes of the River Hamble Harbour Management

Committee held on 4 January 2008 and noted the recommendations made that were

relevant to items on this agenda.

Dr. Susie Tomson questioned when consultation on the draft works consents policies would be carried out and the Marine Director reported that Mr Boissier would be setting a date for the Working Group soon and that the purpose of the Group was to determine the preferred means of carrying out consultation on the draft policies

RESOLVED:

That the minutes be noted.

189. GOVERNANCE REPORT

Mr Michael Sterne made a deputation in respect of this item.

An amended version of the Management Committee's Minute on Governance was circulated taking into account Councillor S. D. T. Woodward's comments.

Captain Capon advised that he had no concerns about the Harbour Authority's compliance with the Port Marine Safety Code. Any stakeholder with concerns about the Port Marine Safety Code and the safe operation of the River should contact him directly to discuss the matter. He considered that the Harbour Authority had made great strides in the past 6 years but that the relationship between the Board and the Management Committee needed more clarity and there was room for improvement so that the role of the Management Committee could be further defined. He advised that based on his experiences with other harbours, the role of the River Hamble Management Committee required clarification and he considered that the Committee should be left to decide its own membership, size and role within the constraints of the Harbour Revision Order. He stressed that the Management Committee's duty is to advise and assist the Board.

The Marine Director welcomed the principle that boat users should have a role in the consultation process. However, he felt that boat users were already strongly represented on the Management Committee (by virtue of representatives from the Association of River Hamble Yacht Clubs and the Royal Yachting Association, and a number of Councillors who own and use boats on the River) and questioned whether even more representation was necessary. He was particularly concerned that further representation would shift the balance of the Management Committee too far in one direction. He also expressed concern about how a single representative covering the interests of all mooring and berth holders on the River would be selected and how that person would stay in touch with all berth and mooring holders.

The Director of Recreation and Heritage advised that the presentation by the Chairman of the Hamble Estuary Partnership (HEP) had expressed the views that the HEP was not solely an environmental body but provided broad representation of bodies and organisations with an interest in the Estuary. The Management Committee had felt at its meeting on 4 January 2008 that the HEP should feed its environmental views to the Board through the Assistant Harbour Master (Environment) and that the representation on the Committee should be broadened.

Councillor Dr. R. J. Ellis was invited to comment and he agreed that the representation of River users needed to be broadened and that there should be a review of the representation.

Councillor House proposed that the recommendations of the Management Committee should be accepted and Councillor Evans seconded the proposal.

RESOLVED:

That the recommendations of the River Hamble Harbour Management Committee be accepted.

190. THE FUTURE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HAMBLE ESTUARY PARTNERSHIP AND THE HARBOUR AUTHORITY

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in the Minute Book) on proposals for the future relationship between the Hamble Estuary Partnership (HEP) and the Harbour Authority by expanding the consultative role of the HEP and formalising the role of the Chairman of the HEP with respect to the Harbour Board.

The Marine Director advised that he was in no doubt about the appropriateness of the Chairman of the HEP fulfilling his role. The majority of the advice to the Board is from the Management Committee and the proposal sought to broaden the consultation so that all views were included to enable better informed decision making. The Board noted that there was no prescribed membership of the HEP and anyone could be represented.

Dr. Susie Tomson advised that should the Marine Bill come into force the Hamble Estuary Plan could be replaced by the Marine Spatial Plan which would cover the Solent including the River Hamble although no details had yet been worked out.

RESOLVED that the River Hamble Harbour Board adopted the following with regard to the Hamble Estuary Partnership (HEP):

(a) That the Chairman and Members of the HEP provide an additional conduit for

consultation with River Hamble stakeholder groups.

(b) That the Chairman of the HEP have direct access to the Harbour Board so that

the views and advice of the HEP can be taken into account before decisions are

made.

191. HARBOUR MASTER'S REPORT

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 9

in the Minute Book) summarising the activities and events on the River Hamble

since 2 November 2007.

The Harbour Master highlighted particular areas of his report as follows:

Para 4.3 - it was noted that there were no implications to the Safety Management

System following the incident.

Para 5 - it was noted that the website was regularly updated and that other

organisations had linked to it. He would welcome suggestions for further

improvement.

Para 6 - it was noted that progress had been made with the marina operators,

Eastleigh Borough Council and Fareham Borough Council towards starting the

recycling trial at Easter. Bins provided by Eastleigh Borough Council on the

Eastleigh side of the River would be sited at boatyards. However, Fareham Borough

Council is carrying out an internal review on trade waste and recycling and will

report in the latter part of 2008. The Board noted that BMF and RYA had also

been involved via the 'Green Blue' and that these organisations hoped to promote the

recycling initiative to more Harbours and boats users.

In relation to the supplementary report circulated at the meeting and in particular to

Para 2 relating to the Port Marine Safety Code Audit, the Harbour Master advised

that no concerns had been expressed by the Marine Enforcement Surveyor auditing

the Harbour Authority however it needed to continue to comply with requirements.

The Harbour Master updated his report by explaining that progress towards

improving the power supply arrangements for the CCTV camera at Swanwick Bend.

This will include laying a power cable on the River bed from Swanwick Marina to

the CCTV pile and removing the existing solar panel and wind turbine.

The Assistant Harbour Master (Environment) presented a brief report on the sewage

pump-out facility provided by the Harbour Authority at Warsash. It was agreed that

this service should continue to be provided free of charge to customers.

RESOLVED:

That the Harbour Master's report be noted.

192. RIVER HAMBLE BUDGET REPORT

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage and the County Treasurer (Item 10 in the Minute Book) on the draft revised budget for 2007/08 and the draft forward budget for 2008/09. Members noted that £4,600 would be added to the revenue reserves giving total reserves of £435,000 (made up of the Revenue Reserve, the Asset Replacement Fund and the Asset Enhancement Fund) at the end of the financial year. A predicted balance of £478,000 was forecast for 2009 following a transfer of £43,000 to the Asset Replacement Fund.

The Marine Director reported that on patrol boats and possibly the replacing the piles on the high level part of the Warsash Jetty were likely to be the first expenditure from the Asset Replacement Fund. Mr T. Lovell asked if it would be possible to increase the number of starboard hand lights in the channel below the Port Hamble to make transit safer at night. The Harbour Master reported that he had investigated and felt that there were already sufficient lights in this area.

The Chairman reported that following discussions with the Marine Director it had been agreed that far more suitable venues for the Board and Management Committee meetings would be provided for future meetings.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.

193. ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 11 in the Minute Book) setting out the forward plan of items to be considered at future meetings of the Board. The following item was added:

Minerals Extraction - April 2008.

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.