To submit a report by the Senior Harbours Officer.
Decision:
To note and accept
the report.
Minutes:
The following reports were presented, and members were
invited to give feedback on the safety matters and operational matters of the
harbour.
(1) The
Senior Harbours Officer's report, giving a brief update to the committee on
harbour matters for the period from March 2022 to September 2022.
Matters were raised under the following headings:-
Introduction
Referring to the Harbour Committee's Constitution,
which was included as an appendix to the report and which listed the
committee's membership, the Maritime Manager expressed his concern that so few
of the representatives of the harbour users' various interests were attending
the meetings. He stated his intention to contact those representatives to
highlight the importance of securing their members' input, or that of their
delegates, in order to have a cross-section of observations in the meetings.
Port Marine Safety Code
The Chair noted that Porthmadog Town Council had
received a letter recently complaining that Personal Watercraft were coming too
close to the shore in Samson Bay, and he asked if the maritime staff could have
a word with those responsible.
In response, the Maritime Manager noted the
following:-
·
The Service shared
those concerns, and the maritime staff had dealt with fatal accidents involving
Personal Watercraft, and also powerboats over the past years.
·
The Service was trying
to improve control of this in this area of the harbour, especially over the
summer season, but the incident in question had happened on 2nd of October, two
days after the maritime staff had finished working on the beaches for the
season.
·
There was photographic
evidence available of the incident, and the Service would have a word with the
owner of the watercraft and the owner of the company that provides training.
·
The number of
complaints about Personal Watercraft and powerboats were decreasing overall,
which showed that the Service's management of the situation, and people's
behaviour, was improving.
·
If the public or staff
could not flag down a driver of a watercraft who was driving irresponsibly or
too close to the shore, the Council had a registration system in place so that
the owner could be identified fairly quickly.
It was agreed that it was not always easy to see the registration
number, but the driver was bound to come ashore somewhere.
·
Robert Owen, as the
representative for this industry on the committee, was proactively encouraging
responsible and good use of the watercraft.
·
PWC Gwynedd had held
the 'Black Rock Blast' event to promote responsible and safe behaviour when
using Personal Watercraft. The Council
was also sharing evidence of irresponsible behaviour with PWC Gwynedd so that
they could upload it on their website.
·
It was difficult to
police the length and breadth of the coastline, and although the Service had a
boat in Porthmadog Harbour it was not always possible to get it out. However, the Service would try to improve
this for next year.
·
Anglesey and Conwy
Councils had adopted a system of registering watercraft, as had existed in
Gwynedd for years, and it would be good if this became a statutory, national
arrangement so that it was a requirement that all watercraft are registered.
·
The Town Council had
forwarded the complainant's letter to him, and he had asked the Harbourmaster
and the Senior Harbours Officer to provide a comprehensive response on behalf
of the Harbour Authority.
The Chair asked how often did the Police boat call at
the harbour. In response, the Maritime
Manager noted:-
·
That this happened very
infrequently, but the Police had been running a publicity campaign in the area
during the summer season.
·
An officer from Natural
Resources Wales was on-board the boat, together with police officers and
divers.
·
The boat operated from
the Wirral, Manchester and Liverpool mainly, and also covered North-west
England.
The Chair noted that the silt level had risen in the
harbour, and he enquired when had the harbour been dredged last. In response,
the Maritime Manager noted the following:-
·
There were 28 years
since the harbour had last been dredged.
·
Any increase in seabed
levels would affect boats in some part of the harbour.
·
The development of the
pontoon had slowed down and changed the flow of the water. Silt was being left behind when the tide went
out of the harbour, and silt coming down the river was also being deposited in
the harbour.
·
The silt was likely to
increase until it reached an equilibrium, a situation they were not far off he
believed.
·
It was not believed
that the silt affected what was happening within the harbour in terms of the
statutory element, since the navigation was still being overseen regularly and
the buoys were still being stationed in the correct places.
·
It was acknowledged
that the situation was inconvenient for some boats that were used to going out
on any tide level within reason, but that was expected.
·
When the harbour had
last been dredged, lorries were used where machinery lifted the silt into the
lorries, but the act no longer allowed this.
Also, the silt would have to be transported to a registered waste site.
·
The cost of dredging the
harbour would be around £500,000 or more.
·
Perhaps in a year or
two they could look at the possibility of pumping water into the harbour to try
and remove some of the silt. The Sailing
Club themselves could do this because all the income from the pontoons went to
the Club.
·
There were also pockets
of silt in the walls on the quay-side, but the process of removing it would
involve major work.
·
The Service continued
to monitor the situation, but there were no plans at present to carry out any
dredging work in Porthmadog Harbour.
The Leisure Interests Representative noted as
follows:-
·
He hadn't noticed that
the silt level in the quay walls had changes at all in 45 years.
·
He did not believe that
dredging would have any effect since the silt would return to the harbour in
time.
Financial Matters
The Maritime Manager noted that the harbour's latest
budget was as follows, and that he would circulate the information to the
members following the meeting:-
Group |
Description |
Budget £ |
Expenditure up to 31/03/21 £ |
Over (Under) Spend £ |
Staff |
Staff Costs |
63,530 |
67,132 |
3,602 |
Property |
Land and Property |
24,440 |
22,898 |
(1,542) |
Transport |
Boat and Vehicles |
670 |
919 |
249 |
Equipment and Tools |
Equipment and Tools |
12,120 |
7,006 |
(5,114) |
Income |
Harbour Income |
(73,830) |
(61,619) |
12,211 |
Total |
Total |
26,930 |
36,337 |
9,407 |
He further noted that they hoped the £9,407 overspend
could be reduced against the budget of the current financial year by making
less expenditure under the Property heading.
Fees and Charges
The Maritime Manager noted:-
·
That they had not
received the inflation figures from the Finance Unit yet, but those figures
would not be as low as in previous years.
·
They did not wish to
increase the fees so high that no-one could afford to moor in Porthmadog
Harbour, but they would have to be realistic when assessing the figures and the
fees to see whether there were alternative ways of increasing the harbours'
income.
·
They needed to look at
the Borth-y-gest area because those aspects might be slightly lower than what
the market there could accommodate. As
such, they intended to increase fees in that area, but it would not have a particularly
harmful impact on the customers there.
·
They would also need to
look at the launching and registration fees and costs elements of Black Rock
Sands, possibly.
·
Once there were firm
figures and recommendations available, they could be circulated to the members
outside a formal committee meeting, and also consult with the Cabinet Member in
future.
(2) The
Harbourmaster's report, summarising the Navigational and Operational matters
that had arisen between March and September 2022, including maintenance
matters.
Matters were raised under the following headings:-
Navigation Matters
A member enquired about the findings of the annual
inspection by Trinity House of navigational aids in the harbour and the channel
approach. In response, the Harbourmaster
noted that no issues had arisen in Porthmadog, or in any other harbour. The Maritime Manager added that the Service
had worked to improve the aids to navigation, and the fact that there were no
issues arising in Porthmadog or in any other harbour was a credit to the
harbourmasters.
The Maritime Manager stated that some things had come
up on assets that the Service were not responsible for, but as a local
lighthouse authority, there was a duty on the Maritime Service to follow these
up with a third party. The Service had
been trying to do this for years without success, and it was important that the
third party took this seriously.
Maintenance
The Harbourmaster noted:-
·
That a new rowing club
in Porthmadog had been granted permission to store a rowing boat at the back of
the harbour.
·
The work at the back of
the harbour would be one of the largest projects over the winter.
·
The boat named 'Dwyfor'
needed a new propeller blade and required cleaning, and maintenance work was
also needed on the Fairway Buoy.
On behalf of the committee, the Chair thanked the
local groups and individuals who had been involved in beach cleaning activities
on Black Rock Sands.
The Maritime Manager thanked the Chair and Councillor
Nia Jeffreys for their interest in the Service, and in Black Rock Sands and the
harbour, and expressed his hope that this would continue in future.
RESOLVED to note and accept the report.
Supporting documents: