Meeting Details

The Committee received an update from the Harbour and Caravan Site Manager on operations. 

Visitor numbers were picking up going into the summer, there had been 146 visitors so far this year. There have been winds on the coast which had made entering the harbour more difficult, the reduction in these numbers had been balanced out by increased campsite use.

The contractor was lined up to repair full length of harbour road, this was likely to happen in September so as not to cause issues with visitors.

The harbour team had been trained so they could now take water samples to test the quality of the river and monitor for pollution issues.

There had been a series of thefts in the harbour, the Harbourmasters Office, Samantha Ks and Mrs T had been broken into and this was being dealt with by the police.

The health and safety audit of the harbour had been completed in April. Some paperwork issues needed resolving and some risk assessments needed updating. The electronic risk management system for marine side was being implemented over the summer, this would bring marine side into line with national legislation.

 Harbour festival had been held a few weeks ago and had been well received. There were issues with people ignoring the bylaws and signage in the harbour but the event had been run well in general. 

The touring site had been busy with warm weather. Drainage was working well and the site had stayed dry during storms. The pond on site was being restored, and insect hotels and bird boxes would be put up around the site to encourage wildlife. Vacant spots on the static site were being cleared and made safe so they could be offered on a short term basis. 

There was an issues with availability of divers and so the broken fender from the north wall had still not been recovered. This was not impacting navigation at this moment. 

The route for Lionlink showed that it would come in on Walberswick beach. The Council was in discussions with Lionlink about feeding this through the South Training Arm instead to fund the rebuilding of the harbour infrastructure and to reduce the impact to the beach.

Mr Pickles asked why people had been stopped from fishing on the north wall. The Harbour and Caravan Site Manager stated it was a health and safety risk with people fishing around the harbour structures and there had been issues with boats navigating the harbour. People could fish above the bailey bridge or on the beach. It was difficult to enforce with the current staff structures. 

Councillor Candy asked why it was taking so long to get divers to recover the fender. Harbour and Caravan Site Manager stated that there was an issue with weather windows, diver availability and more lucrative work elsewhere. 

 Ms Perry-Yates asked how many people had expressed an interest in bringing short term statics on the site. The Harbour and Caravan Site Manager confirmed there were 23 people wanting to come on to the site. Some had asked if motorhomes would be able to come onto these plots, the motorhomes had a habitability certification which was a similar check to statics went through and so should not cause an issue. The Harbour and Caravan Site Manager would discuss this with Ms Perry-Yates.

The Chair stated there had been issues with Anglian Water not informing the Council and harbour of spills and potential underreporting generally. The issues had been reported to the Environment Agency and the Council was looking into legal options. 

The Chair was also raising issue of Lionlink and options for running this through the harbour with other Cabinet Members who were supportive of this

The Committee received report ES-2444 which provided an overview of the draft outturn position for the financial year ending 31 March 2025.

The Deputy Chief Finance Officer introduced the report and stated that in the Harbour there was a deficit of £53,304 against a budgeted surplus of £18,300. For the Caravan and Campsite there a surplus of around £176,817 against an anticipated deficit of £141,400. There was a net surplus for 2024/25 and this had been transferred to the reserve. As of 31 March 2025 reserves totalled £529,809.

The Chair invited questions.

The advisory group had sent through questions in advance of the meeting which the finance business partner responded to. 

£8,000 of the rent figure related to one-off back rents, as opposed to annual rents.

All back pay for wages had been processed, and this only related to the 2023-24 year. 

 Regarding expenditure allocation, when The Harbour Master covered the Caravan Site Manager at weekends this salary was not automatically split but it could be cross charged through internal revenue and cost codes if finance were informed. 

The Harbour and Caravan Site Managers salary was not funded by the Harbour or the Caravan Site, it was funded from Property and Place.

Of the £38,252 shown in the report at 2.1 as 'Rural Solutions'. Rural Solutions cost £17,165, legal and audit costs associated with Harbour Revision Order and Port Marine Code Audit £21,087.  The cost for Rural solutions would be re-allocated manually and this was down to a mis-coding error.  The total surplus/deficit from both the Harbour Account and the Caravan/Campsite Account are put into reserve.

Car park income was a straight transfer, all the receipts were transferred to the Harbour Account.

Regarding the variance between the budget and actuals on harbour rental income, this was work in progress with Property and Place. Budgets are based on estimates and therefore variances may arise following the budget setting process. 

Support charges were one of the largest single costs to the Harbour and totalled £155,606, and the advisory group asked for more explanation of this figure and how it was calculated. The Finance Business Partner stated that the budget figures of £42,200 for the Harbour and £87,800 for the Caravan/Campsite have been previously agreed, this figure is what has been used when calculating the Surplus/Deficit to be put into the ringfenced reserve, so any variation of this budget is disregarded for the calculation for the reserve. Support recharges reflect the cost of services such as Finance, HR, Legal, Asset Management etc. 

 Mr Blois asked if there could be an itemised explanation of the recharges to the harbour. The Finance Business Partner confirmed that this could be added to the next report. Support charges had been agreed for a fixed amount, any variations (for example increases in NI) were not charged back. 

Councillor Ashton asked how the cost of operating the car parks were charged to the harbour. The Finance Business Partner stated this was covered by the general fund. Councillor Ashton felt that the charges should be charged back to the harbour as it was a harbour cost. Actual costs of staffing should be attributed to the harbour as this was a cost from the harbour.

Mr Ogden asked if people struggled with the car park payment system in the harbour and using the mobile app to pay. The Head of Property and Place stated that the system had been changed at the start of the year, there had been issues when this had been introduced but this had now been ironed out.

On the proposal of Councillor Ashton, seconded by Councillor Reeves it was

RESOLVED

That the Harbour Management Committee:
1. Reviews the Draft Outturn Report for the financial year 2024/25.
2. Recommends that Cabinet, notes the transfer of the surplus from the Harbour and Caravan Park operations into the Southwold Harbour reserves.
3. Recommends that Cabinet, notes the increased pressures due to rising utility costs and maintenance and directs future budget considerations to account for these.

The Committee recieved report ES-2446 which provided an update on the procurement, mobilisation, tenant engagement and delivery programme associated with the phased redevelopment of the Southwold Caravan & Campsite.

The Head of Property and Place introduced the procurement plan and delivery programme. This was the more formalised version of the plan which would be presented to Cabinet. It was broken into four sections. Design management would be done under delegated authority and engaged quite quickly.
Following this  was Infrastructure Works which would require reports to full council to approve higher cost infrastructure works and the procurement of caravans and lodges.

The Chair invited questions.

Mr Blois referred to the gantt chart and asked if the design management could start now or if it had to wait for Cabinet in September. The Head of Property and Place stated that the procurement process had started but this would take time. Certain stages had to be approved by Cabinet, but Cabinet did not need to start the process. The Harbour Management Committee also had to approve parts of the process. 

The Head of Property and Place updated the committee on the progress of the harbour revision order (HRO). There were eight other HROs ahead of the Southwold one, it was looking like the Southwold order would be laid before parliament in mid-2026. 

On the proposal of Councillor Reeves, seconded by Councillor Candy it was

RESOLVED

That the Harbour Management Committee:

1. Noted the procurement strategy and confirms support for the phased approach.

2. Supported the use of Preliminary Market Engagement for caravan and lodge suppliers.

3. Noted the updated communication plan for static tenant engagement.

4. Noted the filing and future allocation approach for vacant static plots. 5. Receives a verbal update on the Harbour Revision Order.

Mr Blois, Acting Chair of the Advisory Group stated that the advisory group had been asked to move their meeting to after the HMC which they had not agreed with and they felt the Advisory Group was being cut out of the process and that the goodwill of members would not last. Members had a great deal of experience and this was not being utilized. The harbour project was being left to lapse and this would only cause more concern about the council not fulfilling its statutory duties. The Advisory Group wished to assist with the undertaking and help improve the harbour and income generation. There was no evidence of things being pushed forward, and there had been missed opportunities to increase income in the harbour and increase the sustainability of the harbour within the town. 

The Chair stated that the Council was behind the project. The Harbour was being raised at Cabinet meetings, and the Chair was pushing it forward. The project was ready to go and it would happen. There were a lot of challenges and risks, but the risks of doing nothing for the Council was far greater. The advisory group was valued. 

Mr Blois asked if there was sufficient resource in the council to manage the harbour. The Chair confirmed there was, this was evident through the increase in compliance and results in the harbour audit. 

Mr Pickles asked when the facilities in the wider harbour would be improved and moved on. The Harbour and Caravan Site Manager stated discussions were going on about upgrading the harbour masters office and providing extra facilities here. The Chair asked if there could be a report to the HMC on this.