Agenda and minutes

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

Following a call for nominations for the Chair of the Harbour Management Advisory Committee, Cllr Marcus Kravis proposed, which was duly seconded by Cllr Leigh Redman that Cllr Andy Sully be elected as Chair.

There were no other nominations.

The Committee proceeded to vote and Cllr Andy Sully was unanimously appointed as the Committees Chair,

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

Following a call for nominations Cllr Andy Sully nominated Cllr Rosemary Woods as Vice-Chair, this was seconded by Cllr Andy Hadley. The Committee unanimously voted in Councillor Woods as Vice-Chair.

Following a call for nominations for the Vice-Chair of the Harbour Management Advisory Committee, Cllr Andy Sully proposed, which was duly seconded by Cllr Andy Hadley that Cllr Rosemary Woods be elected as the Vice-Chair.

There were no other nominations.

The Committee proceeded to vote and Cllr Rosemary Woods was unanimously appointed as the Committees 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 present at the meeting declared the following personal interests in their capacity as a Councillor of a Town or Parish Council or any other Local Authority:

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’.

The Committee were advised that no public questions had been received by the published submission deadline.

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

The Harbour Master, Jessica Tyson introduced the Terms of Reference (ToR) and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), noting that the ToR details the Committees roles, functions and responsibilities and the MoU focuses on the Committees working relationship with the Executive

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.

·       Exploring funding possibilities via the shared prosperity funding scheme.

·       The ringfencing of harbour budgets.

·       The Port Marine Safety Code.

·       The operating protocols of the committee.

·       The quorate number for the committee.

·       The liability of the committee

The Committee were provided to with an update on the recruitment of Co-opted members, with the following points highlighted: applications are still being welcomed; the want for a wide skill set, alongside the need for marine expertise; the role of stakeholder groups and associated legal advice regarding conflicts of interest; and the want to complete appointments in the near future.

Cllr  Leigh Redman proposed the report, noting its role as a direction of travel and requested that the final MoU be brought to the Committees next meeting, this was seconded by Cllr Hadley before being agreed unanimously.

The Committee proceeded to note the report.

To receive a verbal update from the Deputy Harbour Master.

The Harbour Master, Jessica Tyson, gave a verbal update on Stakeholder Forum Engagement. The purpose of this update was to give the committee updates on the following stakeholder forums:

·       Burnhan Water Users Forum

·       Watchet Harbour Advisory Committee

·       Minehead Stakeholders Group

The update covered the improvement in dialogue and communication between parties since forming and the want for this to continue.

A discussion was had between members and officers, points raised included:

·       The number of commercial fishermen in West Somerset

·       The positive interaction of stakeholder forums.

·       The potential to and support for promoting stakeholder forum meeting dates on the Harbour Masters website page. The need for a wider update of the webpages was noted.

The committee noted the update.

To receive a verbal update from Deputy Harbour Master.

The Harbour Master, Jessica Tyson, gave a verbal update on the Port Feasibility Study. The update included: that the Port Feasibility Study was undertaken originally by Sedgemoor District Council; that it included the realistic points to develop Bridgwater Port to help promote the port; that Gravity project development would effect the port; and that Minehead and Watchet do not yet have port feasibility studies.

The committee and officers discussed the update, with the following points raised:

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

·       The development opportunities at Dunball and potential for the Council to lead in this area.

It was further noted that the full Port Feasibility Study document would be shared with the Committee.

The Committee noted the update.

To receive a verbal update from Deputy Harbour Master.

The Harbour Master, Jessica Tyson, gave a verbal update on the Business Strategy Update, highlighting the detail and purpose of the Strategy to the Committee.

The Committee and officers discussed the update, with the following points raised:

·       Timescales for the business strategy, with clarification provided that this would ideally be 3-5 years.

·       It was noted that the plan remains in its early stages and requires further work.

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

It was noted that the full draft business plan document will be shared with committee.

The Committee noted the update.

To discuss items to be added to the work programme.

The Senior Democratic Services Officer, Josh Barrett, presented the Committee’s work programme.

Following discussion the committee requested the addition of the following items, with a request that all were considered as soon as realistically possible:

·       The final Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

·       Details of updates to the Harbour Master website pages.

·       Reports of other harbour meetings/forums

·       Update on Bridgwater Dock developments.

·       An update on Co-Opted member recruitment

·       Business Plan/Strategy update

·       Stakeholders update

The Chair proceeded to thank the Committee. It was noted that the proposed meeting date for the next meeting is 29 July 2024. Members requested officers consider opportunities for a meeting to be help sooner, if required, and to report the outcome to the Committee Chair.