Meeting Details

An apology for absence was received from Councillor Rivett.

There were no Declarations of Interest.

RESOLVED

That the Minutes of the meeting held on 8 July 2021 be agreed as a correct and signed by the Chairman.

The HMC considered report ES/0895, the purpose of which was to approve the appointment of members to the Southwold Harbour Advisory Group.

The HMC was reminded that, at its first meeting, the public notice for appointments to the Advisory Group and a letter requesting nominations from the agreed organisations and stakeholders had been approved.  

The Head of Operations drew particular attention to paragraph 2.2 in the report which showed nominations from the agreed organisations and stakeholder groups and paragraph 2.4 set out nominations resulting from the public notice that had been published in the EADT and Lowestoft Journal.  Whilst there were still some vacancies, this would not stop the formation of the group.  If the HMC approved the nominations, the first meeting would be set up in due course and he confirmed that the Group would be supported by the Democratic Services Team.

The HMC noted that the Charter Boat Association comprised only 2-3 people and it might be difficult to receive a nomination from such a small group of people.  There being no further discussion it was 

RESOLVED

1.  That the appointment of nominated persons listed in paragraphs 2.2 and 2.4 in the report as Members of the Southwold Harbour Advisory Group be approved.

2.  That, on the appointment of the members in resolution 1. above, the Advisory Group be established on 23 September 2021.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Resources introduced report ES/0896 which set out the Southwold Harbour Annual Report and Accounts for the period ending 31 March 2021 which, with detailed support papers, had been shared with stakeholders.

Whilst, as was explained in the narrative, they represent a memorandum account of the financial information held in East Suffolk Council’s records, they were prepared and presented in accordance with proper accounting practices as required by the Companies Act 2006.  The Accounts were also subject to audit by the Council’s External Auditors.

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Resources advised that the Council had always been open and transparent in sharing the details of the accounts with local stakeholders, the HMC was keen to ensure that the detail of the accounts could be readily understood.  To that end, a draft budget would be presented to the November meeting of the HMC by which future operations could be measured.  The fundamental objectives, from now, were:

1. To ensure that income derived from operations around the harbour was re-invested in the harbour.

2. To reduce the level of subsidy provided by East Suffolk Council tax-payers with the medium term objective of the harbour becoming a self-financing operation.

3. To achieve that by improving the level of customer offer across all aspects of the harbour operation.

The Chief Finance Officer confirmed that the draft budget in November would give more detail than the current extract.  The external audit had not yet commenced; that was likely during October with sign off in December.  The Chief Finance Officer would inform the HMC once audit had been completed.

The HMC discussed contribution from the campsite to capital and noted that there had been additional expenditure of some £16,000 for the necessary Covid measures.  The Head of Operations reminded the HMC that income had been down due to closure through the Covid pandemic and had only reopened on a limited basis in June this year.  Additional WCs and showers had been necessary and there had been additional investment and expenditure due to the need to ensure they were available in sufficient numbers.

In response to questions, the Chief Finance Officer advised that the forthcoming draft budget would go into detail and monitoring was ongoing on a regular basis.  In response to a question, the Chief Finance Officer reported that local authorities had not been able to apply for Covid Business Support grants and the harbour was not a separate entity to the Council.  He noted that the other harbour income heading covered a revaluation adjustment and some other small items of income.

The Chairman moved the recommendation in the report which was duly seconded and it was

RESOLVED

That the contents of the Southwold Harbour Annual Report be noted.

The Head of Operations advised that there had been a change to the previous Work Programme in that two items, 1. Health and Safety and 2. Operation of the Harbour had been moved to the November meeting.  One of the main reasons for this rescheduling was that there needed to be an understanding of responsibilities between the Council and the Harbour on any health and safety recommendations.  The Caravan Site was overdue for redevelopment and the services provided needed further consideration.  The Rent Review item might need to be delayed until 2022 due to possible heavy workload on forthcoming meetings.

The Chairman commented that he would not wish to see Health and Safety deferred for a second time and the HMC agreed that, if necessary, the meetings would take as long as necessary.  Comment was made that working groups could be set up to look at specifics and then report back to the HMC; that could reduce the heavy workload for the HMC.  The Chairman proposed and it was agreed that an informal meeting be arranged to enable the HMC to look at this proposal.  Democratic Services were requested to look at possible dates and set up an on-line informal meeting.  

It was noted that the HMC logo would be added to the Work Programme for the next meeting in November.

RESOLVED 

That, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended), the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

It was noted that the next meeting would be held on Thursday, 11 November 2021 at 4.00pm.