Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chambers, Kilmory, Lochgilphead. View directions

Contact: Adele Price-Williams Tel: 01546 604480 

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Councillor John McAlpine, Councillor Julie McKenzie and Councillor Alistair MacDougall.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

There were no Declarations of Interest intimated.

3.

MINUTES pdf icon PDF 71 KB

Minutes of Argyll and Bute Harbour Board as held on Thursday 11 August 2016

Minutes:

The Minutes of the Argyll and Bute Harbour Board held on Thursday 11 August 2016 were approved as a correct record.

4.

PORT MARINE SAFETY CODE UPDATE pdf icon PDF 88 KB

Report by Executive Director – Development and Infrastructure Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

A report providing a further update from August’s meeting of the Harbour Board on ongoing initiatives to ensure compliance with the Port Marine Safety Code was considered by Members.

 

Discussion focused on the potential implications, such as legal obligations and maintenance costs, of transferring pier management of smaller piers to groups who had expressed an interest in taking them over in order to run them as community enterprises.  It was confirmed to Members that this could be explored in future developments.

 

Decision

 

The Harbour Board noted the report including the planned next steps;

 

a)    the publication of the Safety Management System (SMS) document on the Council’s website has taken place and work on compilation of appendices to the SMS document for main piers and harbours will continue thereafter;

 

b)    once documentation has been produced for the main piers and harbours, a similar exercise will be carried out for the less strategic ports;

 

c)    follow-up User Group meetings will be arranged for the end of this calendar year; and

 

d)    meetings are to be arranged with users of Dunoon Pier (Waverley Trust and Argyll Ferries) to formalise the user agreement.

 

(Reference: Report by Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure Services dated 10 November, submitted)

5.

PIERS AND HARBOURS FEES AND CHARGES REVIEW pdf icon PDF 243 KB

Report by Executive Director – Development and Infrastructure Services

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Board gave consideration to a report providing details of the review of Piers and Harbours fees and charges and listed recommendations for implementation based upon the outcome of the review.

 

Councillor MacDougall had emailed the Chair questions he wished to be raised in his absence and it was agreed that Officers would respond to him directly and copy the rest of the Harbour Board into any correspondence.

 

Particular attention was paid to the review of services provided at main ports which included staffing at Craignure and Port Askaig, crane provision at Campbeltown, charging for rope handling and shoreside customer services and the provision of electricity and CCTV with the possibility of charging commercial water rates to be explored in the ongoing review.

 

Decision

 

The Harbour Board;

 

a)    agreed to the structure of charging set out in section 5.8 of the report subject to legal advice confirming compliance with the relevant legislation and further consultation;

 

b)    noted that officers will consult with Transport Scotland, Calmac and other harbour users on the proposals to set fees and charges that meet both the asset sustainability costs and future improvement costs associated with the piers and harbours Argyll and Bute has responsibility for;

 

c)    noted the proposed appointment of two members of staff, one at Port Askaig and the other at Craignure to oversee these facilities;

 

d)    noted that further reports on the following will be provided in due course;

 

i)      opportunities to work in partnership with local community groups to maximise the recovery of berthing dues;

 

ii)     the introduction of CCTV at remote facilities;

 

iii)    expanding the current provision of electricity for visiting vessels;

 

iv)   the provision of a crane at Campbeltown; and

 

e)    noted that the legal advice outcome of the further consultation and the proposed level of the new fees and charges will be reported to the Board in January 2017.

 

(Reference: Report by Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure Services dated 10 November, submitted)

6.

HARBOUR BOARD WORKPLAN pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Report by Executive Director – Customer Services

Minutes:

The Argyll and Bute Harbour Board considered the outline Work Plan to facilitate forward planning of reports to the Harbour Board.

 

Decision

 

The Harbour Board noted the Work Plan.

 

(Reference: Harbour Board Work Plan dated 10 November 2016, submitted)