Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect a Chairman for this Committee for the year 2022/23.

Councillor Robert Dewi Owen was elected as Chair of Aberdyfi Harbour Consultative  Committee for the year 2022/23.

RESOLVED To elect Councillor Dewi Owen as Chair of the Committee for the year 2022/23.

To elect a Vice-chairman for this Committee for the year 2022/23.

Councillor John Pughe was elected as Vice-chair of Aberdyfi Harbour Consultative Committee for the year 2022/23.

RESOLVED To elect Councillor John Pughe as Vice-chair of the Committee for the year 2022/23.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Anne Lloyd Jones and William Arthur Stockford (Aberdyfi Harbourmaster).

To receive any declaration of personal interest.

No declarations of personal interest were received.

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

None to note.

The Chairman will propose that the minutes of the meeting of the committee, held on 29^th March, 2022, be signed as a true record.

The Chairman signed the minutes of the previous committee meeting held on 29 March, 2022, as a true record.

To submit a report by the Senior Harbours Officer.

To note and accept the report.

The following reports were presented, and Members were invited to give observations on their content and to ask questions.

The Senior Harbour Officer's report, giving a brief update to the committee on harbour matters for the year ending March 2023. 

·       Members were reminded that the terms of reference of the harbour committees had been created under Section 102 of the Local Government Act 1972 and the Council's Cabinet had confirmed the membership.

·       It was explained that the Cabinet Member for the Economy and Community would be invited to attend meetings to discuss important matters with members, before reporting back to the Cabinet as required.

·       It was stated that there was a reduction in the number of boats on moorings in the harbour. This caused concern as there had been a reduction of approximately 30% in these figures in the last few years.  Despite this, it was confirmed that work was being undertaken to advertise the moorings to once more increase the number of users.

·       It was emphasised that the harbour continued to be very busy. Evidence was seen of this as a very high number of people had registered to store their boats in the harbour.  It was also noted that the general use of boats was very high. Although the figures had reduced a little, the use of the harbour was very high compared with other harbours in the county.

·       It was confirmed that the performance challenge meeting had taken place on 21 October 2022.

·       Gratitude was expressed to all in the Yacht Club, Outward Bound, Rowing Club and the RNLI for their effective collaboration with the harbour during the year.

·       Praise was given to the company that had been busy recently undertaking building work around the harbour by renovating the quay wall.  Members were very glad that purpose-built steps had been incorporated into the quay wall and these steps would be useful to assist those seeking access to their boats when visiting Aberdyfi.

o   It was noted that one corner of the harbour building was falling by 10mm and work was being done to ensure that the building's structure continued to be robust.

·       An enquiry was made regarding the correct location of the stairs. Originally it was thought that the two sets of stairs would go to the wharf to assist the boats.  By now one set of stairs were on the wharf near the harbour office and the other was in front of the Yacht Club.

o   It was confirmed that the stairs would be shared, to be as fair as possible, and for the best use by all users. The construction work plan would be shared with the members as part of the focus group for them to be able to see how the harbour would look following all the construction work that was currently on-going.

Port Marine Safety Code

·       Details were given that the harbour had participated in two recent assessments by the Coastguard.  The results of those assessments indicated that the harbour  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To elect obvservers to serve on the following –

a)    Porthmadog Harbour Consultative Committee

b)    Barmouth Harbour Consultative Committee

c)     Pwllheli Harbour Committee

To elect Desmond George and David Williams to serve as Observers on the Pwllheli, Barmouth and Porthmadog Harbour Consultative Committees. 

RESOLVED

Desmond George was elected to serve as an Observer on the Pwllheli, Barmouth and Porthmadog Harbour Consultative Committees, and for David Williams to attend in his place should he not be able to attend.

To note that the next meeting of the Aberdyfi Harbour Consultative Committee will be held on 21^st March, 2022.

It was confirmed that the next meeting would be on the 21 March, 2023.

The opportunity was taken to thank the Harbour Manager for many years of hard work and his commitment and passion to the county's harbours.  He was wished well on his retirement.