5
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.