Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

David Eastwood (Harbour Interests Representative).

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

Councillor Ioan Thomas declared a personal interest in item 5 on the agenda - Update on Harbour Management Matters, as he was Chair of the Caernarfon Harbour Trust.

The member was of the opinion that it was not a prejudicial interest, and he did not withdraw from the meeting during the discussion on the item.

To consider any items which are urgent matters in the opinion of the Chairman.

The Chairman will propose that the minutes of the meeting of this committee, held on 11 October 2017, be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this Committee, held on 11 October 2017, as a true record.

To submit a report by the Maritime and Country Parks Officer.

The Maritime and Country Parks Officer noted that the harbours had been fortunate as there had been little damage during the recent severe weather. He noted his gratitude to the harbour's staff for their work during the period. He referred to the previous period of severe weather on 16 and 17 October 2017. He reported that the harbour staff had collaborated with officers from the RNLI and the Coastguard Agency on 17 October, where one person's life was saved.

The Porthmadog Town Council representative noted his appreciation for the work of the harbour staff and emergency services during the severe weather.

The Maritime and Country Parks Officer guided the members through the report, drawing attention to the following main points:

·         The report of the Coastguard Agency's auditors on their thorough audit of the current safety arrangements and systems of Gwynedd municipal harbours in order to ensure compliance with the Ports' Safety Code had been included in the agenda. The auditors noted that the Council complied with the requirements in general but that some aspects relating to recording duties and noting the Duty Holder and Designated Person needed to be amended.

·         The auditors would be conducting a further audit in October 2018 and it was intended for the auditors to attend the meeting of the Consultative Committee and invite representatives from the Consultative Committees of Aberdyfi, Barmouth and Pwllheli to the meeting.

·         The importance of the Safety Code and the members’ duty to submit observations on the suitability of the Safety Code and to receive observations on the work arrangements of the harbours so that the Safety Code could be reviewed to ensure that it was relevant to harbour operations.

·         There were currently three Mariners’ Notice in operation in Porthmadog. The navigational aids would be relocated once the work on Y Dwyfor had been completed.

·         The Porthmadog Harbour navigation channel had changed considerably over the winter months. The Service regularly inspected the channel at low tide in order to try to ensure that the aids to navigation were in the most suitable location. Due to the consistent change in the channel, ensuring that the aids were in the correct position was very challenging.

·         Following an inspection of all the harbour’s moorings by a diving company, the need to renew 35 moorings was identified. Quotations had been received for chains and shackles and the most competitive price was £5,100. It was anticipated that the work of installing the new moorings would be around £3,000 A plan was handed out showing the mooring locations.

·         The employment period of the Porthmadog Harbour Assistant (seasonal) ended on the 30 September 2017. To ensure assistance with harbour work over the winter months, the contract was extended and came to an end on 31 December 2017. At the begining of January 2018, a request was received from the Caernarfon Harbour Trust asking for the right to discuss a temporary work contract for the assistant with the Harbour Trust. The Officer was now employed by the Harbour Trust.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To note that the next meeting of the Porthmadog Harbour Consultative Committee will be held on 10 October 2018.

It was noted that the next meeting would be held on 10 October 2018.