Archived decisions

Contact: David Evans tel 01489 576387 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report is to inform members of the Harbour Board of current issues pertaining to the management of the River Hamble.

2. Recommendations

2.1 That this report be noted

3. Current issues

3.1 Solent School of Yachting - the site, buildings and pontoon which constitute the former premises of the Solent School of Yachting are leased by the River Hamble Harbour Authority. The current lease expires in September 2010. Two of the buildings are occupied by the Harbour Authority, one as a workshop and general store, the other as a storeroom for Tier 1 oil spill response equipment. The remainder of the site is sub-let to Warsash Marine. The yard is used by Warsash Marine for the storage of boats and trailers. In order to facilitate this, a planning application was made in 2007 for change of use of the site. This was approved on 14 November 2007 by Fareham Borough Council, subject to a number of conditions. One of these was that a maximum of thirteen boats and their supporting trailers should be stored within the area covered by the planning permission and that a central manoeuvring area should not be obstructed by these boats and trailers. On 24^th April 2008, the owner of the site received a letter from the Planning Enforcement Officer of Fareham Borough Council indicating that a complaint had been received from a local resident to the effect that the condition was not being complied with. The owner of Warsash Marine was duly informed and one boat and a number of trailers were removed from the site. A reply was sent to Fareham Borough Council in which advice was sought about the storage of additional trailers (without boats), on which subject the current planning permission is silent and which has lead to some confusion.

3.2 Marine Bill - a more comprehensive study of the draft Marine Bill has now been undertaken and has confirmed that there are no immediate concerns for the Harbour Authority. Hampshire County Council will be responding to the consultation and there is currently no intention that the Harbour Authority should respond separately.

3.3 Marine Navigation Bill - a draft Marine Navigation Bill (not to be confused with the Marine Bill) has been issued by the Department for Transport for consultation. The consultation period closes on 25 July 2008. A draft response will be prepared on behalf of the River Hamble Harbour Authority, for consideration by the Harbour Board on 11 July 2008. The main issues contained in the draft Bill which are relevant to the River Hamble are:

a. Proposed legislation enabling harbour authorities to give general directions to shipping (the River Hamble Harbour Authority already has these powers so is well placed to comment on how they are used in practice).


b. Powers enabling the Secretary of State to direct harbour authorities that appear to be discharging their duties unsafely.


c. Powers for the Secretary of State to designate National occupational standards for Harbour Masters.


d. Providing the General Lighthouse Authorities with powers to enforce their duties with respect to the supervision of Local Lighthouse Authorities.


e. Updating the methods of marking wrecks available to the authorities with statutory responsibility for this work.


f. Providing for the ratification of the International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks 2007 to provide a uniform legal basis for locating, marking and removing wrecks which pose a hazard to navigation or the marine environment and recovering associated costs from the shipowner.

3.4 Trailer parking - some progress has been made on the matter of trailer parking in Warsash. As a result of concerns raised at the Annual Forum in March, Councillor David Swanbrow (Fareham Borough Council) has obtained tentative agreement that trailer parking should be allowed on the grass to the left of the entrance to Passage Lane car park, without incurring a penalty notice. In addition, the six spaces currently marked `Trailer Bay' will be re-labelled as `Trailers Only' in due course, in order to remove any ambiguity.

.

4. Impact Assessments

4.1 This report is a position statement only and has not been subject to an Equalities Impact Assessment.