Agenda and minutes

To appoint a Chair from the elected members of the committee.

Josh Barrett from Democratic Services called for nominations for the Chair.  Councillor Andy Sully was nominated as Chair by Councillor Marcus Kravis. Councillor Leigh Redman seconded. The committee unanimously voted in favour of Councillor Andy Sully becoming Chair of the Harbour Management Advisory Committee.

To appoint a Vice-Chair from the elected members of the committee.

Councillor Andy Sully nominated Councillor Rosemary Woods as Vice-Chair and this was seconded by Councillor Andy Hadley. The Committee unanimously voted in Councillor Woods as Vice-Chair.

To receive any apologies for absence.

There were no apologies for absence received.

To receive and note any declarations of interests in respect of any matters included on the agenda for consideration at this meeting.

(The other registrable interests of Councillors of Somerset Council, arising from membership of City, Town or Parish Councils and other Local Authorities will automatically be recorded in the minutes: City, Town & Parish Twin Hatters - Somerset Councillors 2023 )

Councillors have the following Town Council responsibilities that are declared:

Councillor Leigh Redman – Bridgwater Town Council
Councillor Marcus Kravis – Minehead Town Council

The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.

For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.

We are now live webcasting most of our committee meetings and you are welcome to view and listen to the discussion. The link to each webcast will be available on the meeting webpage, please see details under ‘click here to join online meeting’.

There were no public questions received.

To note the Terms of Reference/draft Memorandum of Understanding and receive a verbal update regarding Co-Opted Member recruitment.

Jessica Tyson, Harbour Master introduced the report. A discussion was had between members and officers and discussion points can be found below:

·       Harbour budgets and the possibility of a combined harbour budget in the future.

·       The ringfencing of Harbour budgets.

·        Port Marine & Facilities Safety Code.

·       The operating protocols of the committee.

·       Change in quorate number for the committee.

·       Liability of the committee

·       Issue of Co-opted members.

·       Applications for the volunteer post is still open and looking to get as wide a skill set on board such as possible. For example, investment management and business entrepreneurial skills.

·       Certain people at stakeholder groups feeding into the HMAC might have a conflict of interest and the legal advice that had been given in that regard precluded them from sitting on both in key roles.  The purpose of the stakeholder groups is to feed advice and concerns to the Harbour authority and therefore into the HMAC as well.

·        It is hoped that the number of coopted members will be filled before the next HMC meeting.

Councillor Woods would like the committee to explore the possibility of funding via the shared prosperity funding scheme.

Councillor Redman proposed using the report as the direction of travel and allowing dynamic decision making to be made by the Chair and Vice Chair. The amended final draft of the Memorandum of Understanding will be brought back to the next meeting. This was seconded by Councillor Hadley and the committee voted unanimously for this proposal.

RESOLVED. The committee noted the report.

To receive a verbal update from the Deputy Harbour Master.

Jessica Tyson gave a verbal update on Stakeholder Forum Engagement. A discussion was had between members and officers and points discussed can be found below (summarised):

·       Volume of commercial fishermen in West Somerset

·       The positive interaction of the forums.

The committee discussed and supported the idea of adding forum meetings on the Harbour Master website page. It was noted the website needs improving which is being worked on with IT.

RESOLVED. The committee noted the update.

To receive a verbal update from Deputy Harbour Master.

Jessica Tyson gave a verbal update on the Port Feasibility Study. The committee and officers discussed the update, and the following points were raised and discussed (summarised):

·       Port of Bridgwater is in essence a navigational authority as the Port does not own any wharfage. This is all owned or leased by third parties currently.

·        The development opportunities of Dunball.

The Port Feasibility Study will be shared with the committee after the meeting.

RESOLVED. The committee noted the update.

To receive a verbal update from Deputy Harbour Master.

Jessica Tyson gave a verbal update on the Business Strategy Update. The committee and officers discussed the update, and the following points were discussed (summarised):

·       Business strategy ideally 3-5 years

·       The plan is in early stages and requires further work.

·       The relevant skills required to write a business strategy/plan

The draft business plan will be shared with committee after the meeting.

RESOVLED. The committee noted the update.

To discuss items to be added to the work programme.

Josh Barrett presented the committee work programme.

The committee agreed to add the following onto the next meeting agenda:

·       Amended final draft of MoU (memorandum of understanding)

·       Harbour Master Website Page Updates.

·       Reports of other Harbour meetings/forums

·       Update on Bridgwater Dock Developments.

·       Update on member position of committee.

·       Business Plan/Strategy

·       Stakeholders Update

The Chair thanked the committee. It was noted that the proposed meeting date for the next meeting is July 29, 2024. The committee asked if this could be brought forward to June 2024 which will be investigated and shared. The Chair then formally closed the meeting.