Agenda item

To receive the Harbour Masters' updates.

The two Harbour Masters gave their updates.

 

Weymouth Harbour

 

The Harbour Master reported that since the Covid pandemic, Weymouth Harbour had remained open as an essential service and had gone through several phases promulgated by Notices to Mariners.  Weymouth slipway had been one of the first to open on the south coast and had been far busier than usual.  There had also been a significant rise in popularity of jet skis and paddle boarders.  The number of visitors had gone down due to safety restrictions which meant that rafting (where boats tie up alongside each other) had not been permitted, however, this had been compensated in part by increased slipway activity and jet ski permits. The harbourside road closures would remain in place until 25 September 2020.

 

An update on the Harbour Revision Order (HRO) had been received that morning advising that the earliest time this could be laid before Parliament was in January or February 2021 due to the Covid pandemic and Brexit.  A lease to the Rowing Club could be granted following approval of the HRO.

 

Additional points not covered in the report included:-

 

• removal of the railway lines running alongside Weymouth Harbour  commencing in the Autumn with the removal of tracks along King Street and Commercial Road during October / November 2020. This would necessitate two way traffic on Custom House Quay as part of the road diversions.

 

• consultation further to a request by Weymouth Sailing Club for use of an area of water that was not fully used for some additional pontoons.

 

A question was asked concerning quarantine and members were advised that home ports and contact details were declared on arrival at the harbour with foreign vessels regulated in conjunction with the Border Force.  The number of foreign vessels was less than previous years. 

 

Bridport & Lyme Regis Harbours

 

The Bridport & Lyme Regis Harbour Master outlined his reports and further updated the Committee that equipment for the pontoon anchor system at Lyme Regis had been bought and would be installed during 2021; and that a planning application for a storage building near to Ozone Terrace had recently been approved with construction taking place during the winter period.

 

Following the presentation members requested the following for future reports:-

 

• that waiting lists numbers were split on a private and commercial basis
• that all harbour reports followed the same template, similar to that used for the Bridport and Lyme Regis Harbour updates

 

A specific question was asked regarding the impact on the eco system of dredging to a greater depth at Lyme Regis.

 

The Harbour Master confirmed that depth surveys had been undertaken before and after the dredging activity but that the ecological impact had not been assessed on this occasion.

 

The Chairman highlighted that dredging had been delayed until July 2020 due to lockdown and would not normally be undertaken during the middle of the summer season. He suggested that the ecological impacts, including the deposit of resulting material could be discussed at a future meeting.

 

A further question was asked in relation to signage at Lyme Regis Harbour which, it was suggested, was too big and bright for the Grade 1 listed structure and also the high concentration of bleach used in cleaning the harbour walls.

 

The Harbour Master explained that installation of the signage followed a large number of incidents where people had fallen from the wall onto the surface of the cob or into the sea with subsequent feedback that the signage was not sufficiently clear.  A pressure washer would be used to clean the harbour walls in future.

 

The Chairman explained that a balance needed to be sought between safety requirements and heritage and the need to ensure that the Council was not put at risk due to a lack of signage.

 

The Head of Environment and Wellbeing stated that further advice regarding signage would be sought with partners who had implemented 

interpretation signage along the Jurassic Coast.

 

Mr Jim Clarke made a general comment that the detailed reports blurred the sort of oversight  and strategic position of the Committee. He provided examples of the loss of £200k income as a result of the pandemic and the near total collapse of community links at Weymouth Harbour as being significant, but not raised in reports during the last 6 months.  He suggested that the structure of the update reports was reassessed going forward.

 

The Chairman stated that prioritisation could be looked at whilst being mindful that the Committee had a legal duty to receive these reports.  The financial issues were covered in the budget monitoring reports to be considered as part of this agenda.

 

Noted