Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Bryan, who attended online.

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 04 December 2024.

The minutes of the meeting held on 04 December 2024 were confirmed and signed.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registerable or non-registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

Richard Tinsley declared that he held a berth at Weymouth Marina.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via MS Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  Further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council 

All submissions must be e-mailed in full to joshua.kennedy@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk

by 8.30am on Friday 28 February 2025.

When submitting your question(s) and/or statement(s) please note that:

• You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.
• a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.
• It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.
• Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.
• when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder) 
• Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting. 
• questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 
• all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

There was one public question and a copy of this can be found in the appendix.

To consider changing the times of all future meetings of the Harbours Advisory Committee from 10:00 to 14:00.

Members discussed the idea of changing the timings of future meetings and it was agreed that a solution would be looked outside of the meeting.

To consider a verbal report by the Chairman.

The Chair delivered a verbal report to the committee. He noted that he had attended the Business Hut Owners meeting in West Bay along with the Cabinet Member, FCERM team and Harbour Master to discuss the repairs to walls A and B. Interviews were set to take place the following week to appoint the two vacant co-optee positions on the committee. He also thanked the Head of Environment and Wellbeing for his work in his role supporting the harbours, as it was his last meeting.

To note the minutes of the:

·       Bridport (West Bay) Harbour Consultative Group meeting held on 3 February 2025.

·       Lyme Regis Harbour Consultative Group meeting held on 6 February 2025.

·       Weymouth Harbour Consultative Group meeting held on 11 February 2025.

The Bridport Harbour Consultative Group minutes for the meeting held on 3 February 2025 were presented by Emma Bourne, the Consultative Group Chair.

The Lyme Regis Harbour Consultative Group minutes for the meeting held on 6 February 2025 were presented by Nick Marks, the Consultative Group Chair.

The Weymouth Harbour Consultative Group minutes for the meeting held on 11 February 2025 were presented by Tim Day, the Consultative Group Chair.

It was raised that the Lyme Regis Consultative Group minutes that were in the agenda were not the most recent minutes and it was agreed the up to date copy would be circulated to members after the meeting.

The committee noted the minutes of the meetings of the Consultative Groups.

To receive updates from the Weymouth and Bridport & Lyme Regis Harbour Masters.

The Harbour Master provided a verbal update for Bridport and Lyme Regis harbours. He provided a summary of the statistics for both harbours, including the mooring occupancy levels for private and commercial berths, car parking and shop income. The details of the training that harbour staff had undertaken since the last meeting was provided. In Lyme Regis the harbour storage building had been completed, and the new timber piles had been installed. Dredging for both harbours was currently being investigated and water injection dredging was being considered, which would have the benefit of saving on costs. Trinity House had conducted inspections earlier in the year and found four defects which were set to be repaired.

In response to a question from one member the Harbour Master stated that he hoped to rectify the defects identified by Trinity House within the month.

The Harbours Manager delivered the update for Weymouth Harbour. He provided a summary of the statistics, recent events and incidents that had occurred since the last meeting. A new system for recording incidents had been implemented in Weymouth and was set to be rolled out to Bridport and Lyme Regis harbours as well. The Harbour Masters and Assistant Harbour Masters for all three harbours had attended an enforcement workshop and several members of the Weymouth team had taken a Gas Safe Awareness course to allow them to use Oxy-fuel gas cutting equipment, which would help save on costs by not having to outsource this work going forward. An update was provided on the harbour management system, it was hoped that Harbour Assist could be implemented at some point in the future and was in the procurement process. The process of removing the pilotage function at Weymouth Harbour was continuing. The Department for Transport was currently aware of a number of small ports that wish to remove their Pilotage Function and were hoping to complete all of these harbours under a single removal order. Enquiries are being made with the DfT about the potential length of time for this. Members were advised on the details of the upcoming harbour works and events taking place in 2025.

In response to member’s questions the Harbours Manager noted the requested change to formatting of tables in the report to include the ‘£’ sign when referring to revenue figures. He also stated that they did not have a set time span for how long it would take to remove the pilotage function.

The committee noted the updates. 

To provide an engineering update for Weymouth, Bridport and Lyme Regis harbours.

The Service Manager for Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management delivered the engineering updates for Bridport, Lyme Regis and Weymouth harbours. The 2024 inspections had all been completed and logged and repairs were set to take place with a priority on repairs affecting health and safety. In Bridport the necessary repairs to Harbour Walls A & B had been assessed and options were being explored to combine the works for both walls into a single project to reduce costs. An economics appraisal was ongoing for the FCERM Scheme Phase 1 in Weymouth and advice was being sought in regard to the planning process for Harbour Walls F and G.

The committee noted the update.

To consider a report by the Weymouth and Bridport & Lyme Regis Harbour Masters.

The Harbour Master presented the budget monitoring report for Bridport and Lyme Regis. The main variances for the budget were outlined, with a notable saving in costs from the vacant Harbour Assistant post and dredging, due to having no full year dredging cost for the financial year. In Lyme Regis there was an overspend on pay due to the requirement for seasonal staff and shortfall in income from an Environment Agency grant due to the lack of dredging.

The Harbour Business Manager presented the budget monitoring report for Weymouth. It was noted that performance was mostly on track with the budget, although the budgeted surplus would be lower than expected due to costs relating to the repairs of harbour walls.

The committee noted the budget monitoring reports for Bridport, Lyme Regis and Weymouth harbours.

To consider a report from the Harbours Manager.

The Harbours Manager presented the Marine Safety Plan to members and explained that no significant changes had been made since the plan was last reviewed.

In response to a question from one member, the Harbours Business Manager confirmed that he would look into creating a working group, consisting of committee members and the designated person, to review the Marine Safety Plan on an annual basis.

The committee noted the Marine Safety Plan.

To consider the Harbours Committee Workplan.

The Harbours Manager presented the forward plan to the committee. In addition to the standing items he noted that an update on incident analysis across the harbours and an economic analysis update would be coming to subsequent meetings.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4) b) of the Local Government Act 1972. The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended).

The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.

There is no scheduled exempt business for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.