AT A MEETING of the RIVER HAMBLE HARBOUR BOARD held at The Warsash Sailing Club, Warsash on 21 November 2008.

PRESENT:

246. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

There were no apologies from members, but apologies were submitted on behalf of

John Tickle (Recreation and Heritage).


247. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Members were mindful that, where they believed they had a personal or personal

prejudicial interest in any matter to be considered at the meeting, they should, normally

at the time of the debate, declare their 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.

Dr S Tomson, Mr T Lovell and Mr D Evans declared personal interests by reason of

their being mooring or berth holders on the river. Dr S Tomson declared a personal

interest as a member of the Warsash Sailing Club and the Royal Air Force Yacht Club.

248. MINUTES

The Minutes of the meeting of the Board held on 19 September 2008 were confirmed

as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

249. CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS

The Chairman had no communications on this occasion.

250. DEPUTATIONS

The Chief Executive reported that details of the meeting had been notified to the three

deputations who had registered to speak at the previous meeting on 19 September, but

it was understood that they no longer proposed to proceed with their representations

on navigation channel improvements (Minute 252 below).

251. MINUTES OF THE RIVER HAMBLE HARBOUR MANAGEMENT

COMMITTEE

The Board considered the Minutes of the Committee meeting held on 24 October 2008

(Item 6 in the Minute Book), incorporating recommendations relating to the items

referred to in Minutes 252, 253, 256 and 258 below.


Members expressed their appreciation for the contribution made to the River Hamble

over many years by the retiring representative of the Royal Yachting Association,

Don Alexander. It was reported that the item on possible fitting of safety ladders to

privately owned pontoons would be brought forward to the Board meeting in January

2009 with a recommendation which took full account of legal advice on potential

Liabilities.

252. NAVIGATION CHANNEL IMPROVEMENTS


The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation & Heritage (Item 7 in the

Minute Book) on the proposed allocation of funds to enable the replacement of

Crableck and Swanwick Beacons and the realignment of moorings. It was noted that

the Management Committee had advised in favour of the proposal. Alternative

moorings had been offered to all users affected by the changes. The costs would be

met from revenue and if necessary from the revenue reserve. A correction was made

to the plans, to the effect that the Spring 2009 plan should show moorings HD10, HD12

and HD14 in consecutive order, in the same alignment as on the plan for September

2008.

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to the expenditure of the following funds:

· £16,500 from revenue to pay for the replacement Crableck and Swanwick Beacons. Each wooden beacon to be replaced with a metal pile, each with navigation light, starboard hand mark and a tidal gauge.

· £2,900 from revenue to pay for realigning three mooring sites and to purchase redundant tackle from 5 displaced moorings.

253. REVIEW OF STRATEGIC PLAN AND RIVER HAMBLE BUSINESS PLAN

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 8 in

the Minute Book) updating the current strategic plan and business plan. The

Management Committee had advised in favour of the proposals and had suggested the

possibility of funding a Police Community Safety Officer be investigated. Several

corrections in terms of presentation were made to the report, to include amplification of

Paragraph 5.8 as follows:

· (iv) "heeding the advice and guidance contained in other plans, such as the saved policies of the Hampshire County Structure Plan (1996-2011); the emerging south-east plan; and from other organisations such as the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Hamble Estuary Partnership (HEP)".

· (viii) "encouraging the appropriate protection of archaeological and historic assets of the River Hamble by regular consultation and close cooperation with the Hampshire County Archaeologist, English Heritage and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology".

The Board debated the action plan set out in Annex A and asked for a specific timeline

to be added to Item 5 - Scope Options for Enhancing Visitor Facilities at Hamble and

Warsash. Members then debated the proposal to investigate the feasibility of funding

an additional Police Community Safety Officer for the benefit of the Harbour and its

users, as proposed by the Management Committee. They expressed doubts about the

costs and practicalities of this idea, particularly having regard to the need to specify

powers, duties and authority to control and direct what such an officer might do. They

felt that a better course of action would be to continue working through existing police

and PCSO networks and therefore concluded that Item 11 in the action plan should be

deleted.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the Board confirms that the current strategic plan remains fit for purpose.

(b) That approval be given to the Business Plan and Action Plan for 2009-2010 as set

out in the report and its Annex A, subject to the deletion of Item 11 in the list

(funding an additional Police Community Safety Officer)

254. HARBOUR MASTER'S REPORT

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

Minute Book) giving details of incidents, activities and events on the river in the period

September - November 2008.The Harbour Master circulated a supplementary report

giving an update on more recent occurrences (Item 9 (x) in the Minute Book). It was

noted that the Crown Estate was carrying out the replacement of a number of mooring

piles over a 10 day period starting on 1 December and that suitable berths would be

allocated for displaced boats during that period.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the Harbour Master's report be noted.

255 ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation & Heritage (Item 10 in the

Minute Book) setting out a list of items expected at the first two meetings in 2008. It was

reported that the Annual River Users Forum would be held on Tuesday 24 March 2009.

256. RESPONSE TO SECTION 31 OBJECTION BY WARSASH SAILING CLUB

The Board considered the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 11 in

the Minute Book) on the preparation of the County Council's draft response. Once

agreed this would be submitted to the Department for Transport who would decide on

the legal process and on any publication.

257. EXCLUSION OF THE PRESS AND PUBLIC

RESOLVED:

That the public be excluded from the meeting during the following item of business, as it is likely, in view of the nature of the business to be transacted or the nature of the proceedings, that if members of the public were present during that item there would be disclosure to them of exempt information within Paragraph 5 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 and further that, in all circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information, for the reasons set out in the report.

258. RESPONSE TO SECTION 31 OBJECTION BY WARSASH SAILING CLUB (EXEMPT)

The Board considered the exempt Annex to the report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage (Item 13 in the Minute Book) setting out the County Council's draft response to the objection. The Board congratulated all the officers concerned in producing such a comprehensive response.

RESOLVED:

That approval be given to the River Hamble Harbour Authority's response to Warsash Sailing Club's objection made under Section 31 of the Harbour Act 1964 as attached at Annex A and that delegated authority be given to the officers to finalise the response and submit it to the Department for Transport.