Herewith my unofficial notes of the public meeting held at 6pm on Tuesday evening, 31 January 2012, in the Bembridge Village Hall by the new owners, Malcolm and Fiona Thorpe.
The meeting was well attended by, I would say, some 200 people with Mr and Mrs Thorpe and the Harbour staff on the dais. All the BHT Trustees were there except for one who was abroad.
Malcolm Thorpe (“MT”) spoke for about 25 minutes and there were comments and questions for about 20 minutes.
MT gave a good resume of his plans for the Harbour and certain other aspects.
He had spoken to many of the local stakeholders and those in the villages of St Helens and Bembridge. He thanked BHT for the help and advice that we have given him since their purchase. In his presentation he covered the following matters;
1. Dredging . The dredging licence application was submitted on
30 January. This is to cover all areas of the Harbour that are classified as
maintenance and are those that are effectively at present in use. This is
for back hoe dredging with collected silt deposited beyond the Nab Tower . The tipping field will not be used.
Unfortunately it can take anything from six to sixteen weeks to get the licence.
He is negotiating with two dredging companies and is making provisional plans for a start in mid March.
He mentioned the significant cost of the dredging so it would seem to be coming out not less than expected.
He said that the plan is to dredge to a depth of two metres at low
water springs.
He plans to dredge the Duver Pontoons both sides first plus any
necessary internal remedial channel work. The other areas will follow in the
autumn.
As Chris Turvey is rather out of action at the moment with a new hip MT has asked Graham Hall to take charge of the dredging project.
2. Pontoons, Marina and Groynes. MT plans to extend the Duver pontoons towards the Anglers' moorings; replace the Fishermans' pontoons now; and reconfigure the Bembridge Marina area in due course. I do not think that he mentioned the groynes at St Helens , which are now deteriorating again, or Bembridge Point but I know that MT is taking professional advice about their condition, angles and lengths.
3. External channel dredging. He has agreed terms with Nigel Bennett for
the continuation of his current lease on Bembridge Point and external channel
dredging.
4. Advisory Group. He is to establish an Advisory Group. It will follow
similar lines to the one at Yarmouth , which he is on, and we know others who
are on it as well. It seems to work.
It will consist of up to ten members taken from the various local and other stakeholder interests.
We do not know the Terms of Reference yet. These will of course be important.
It will meet every two months with the first meeting to be held on 21 February. He will be chairman for the first two meetings and then it is for the Advisory Group to decide if they prefer an independent chairman. If they do, he will advertise for one.
MT has kindly asked me to represent BHT on this Group and, with the approval of the Trustees, I have accepted.
5. Houseboats . As part of the Harbour purchase he managed to secure the
90 or so year head leases of the houseboats from Maritime & Leisure. BHIC
owns the freehold so MT now has total control. He is putting together a
Houseboat users committee so that they can agree what they would like from
the Harbour Company. I am sure that sewage will become an issue here, and
maybe individual bio treatment plants will be the best solution! MT's first meeting with the houseboat owners is on 22 nd February.
6. Communication . MT is very keen to be open and informative with the
local communities and to work together on mutually beneficial issues.
• There will be a short monthly e news letter “On the wind” containing
Harbour news and he seeks local users to offer contributions and advertise;
• There will be a more sophisticated news letter twice a year to act more
as a marketing tool. It will come out in the spring for the summer season and
in the autumn to fit in with the Southampton boat show. Again outside
contributions will be welcome.
• MT will be holding regular open door surgery's at the Duver office when
anybody will be welcome to pop in and share a grievance, a good idea or
whatever. The first one will be on 21 February.
• He is aware that the finances of the previous regime were invisible so he
will be holding an annual finance meeting at which the accounts of the
Harbour business will be exposed. The first one will be after the first year
end around May 2013.
7. PMSC. Port and Marina Safety Code. This is a sort of health and
safety requirement for harbours which had been neglected by the previous
owner. MT has had an independent professional report produced. He did not go into detail but said it has exposed many potential liability and risk areas
and that the report's recommendations will be implemented as soon as
possible.
8. On-shore facilities. MT is aware that the shore-side facilities
are "very poor" and needed to be upgraded, improved and extended. For the
first year he will concentrate on the washing facilities and urgent repair
matters leaving new builds until next year. His priority is to improve the
visitor experience with better facilities for them.
9. Mooring Fees and Harbour Dues. For 2012, the fees will be charged at
the same rates as for 2011 and the dues at the same rates as 2010. He said that under PMSC the Harbour Authority was required to keep a register of all boats in the Harbour with contact details including telephone numbers in case of emergencies.
10 Palmer Memorial. MT said that he had met up with the Bembridge
Parish Council and they had asked about this memorial, at the entrance to
Bembridge Point, as there had been an argument over ownership and location with the previous owner.
MT said that he had offered to return it to the BPC provided they refurbished it and held it for the benefit of the Bembridge community as a whole; and grants are available for this type of work.
11 Staff. All the existing six staff are being retained.
12 Website. The harbour company website is now being reviewed and up graded.
There then followed comments and questions from the floor.
1. I opened by welcoming Fiona and Malcolm Thorpe to Bembridge and St Helens and thanked them for organising this meeting. I said that, whilst BHT was most disappointed that our bid had not been successful, we wished them every success with their new challenge.
I said that we were delighted to hear about their positive plans for restoration etc. of the Harbour after so many years of disappointment. And that it was good of them to be engaging with so many of the local community which was so essential.
I reminded them that BHT was a charity bound by its permanent responsibility as constituted for the well being of the Harbour. I said that perhaps we were in the position of a public guardian or overall watchdog over what goes on.
I said that BHT would certainly be supporting them in their endeavours with
the Harbour if these were consistent with our own objectives. And that we
were confident that our many members and the community more generally, would also give them their support and encouragement.
Finally, I said that on this basis and by working together I was sure that
all our mutual aims would be achieved.
2. There was a question asked about when MT expected to be
making a profit on his investment after the significant acquisition cost and
subsequent major restoration costs that will be incurred.
MT said that his time scale for making a reasonable return on their
investment was 5 years.
3. Another questioner asked for confirmation that he was in it
for the long term as the record of previous owners had been far from good
with many going bust and many not fulfilling their commitments.
MT said that his plan was to be around for at least some 15 years; "this is a long
term investment". He said that he had made a huge investment which was
permanent. He said that it would take time to sort everything out and there was no quick fix. He was treating it as a regeneration project.
He asked for three or four months grace to demonstrate his intentions to restore and upgrade the Harbour.
4 It was mentioned that next year would be the 50 th anniversary of the privatisation of the Harbour in 1963.
MT said that he and his wife were planning on a big party to recognise this event.
5. There was a question asking about how MT saw the Harbour in 10 years
time; his vision.
MT said that he wanted a good increase in visitors. Last year there had been 4,600 visitors whereas at Yarmouth there had been 22,000
and, whilst they were quite different harbour profiles, it looked, he said, as if there should be a lot of room for improvement; say to double that number.
He also wanted to make sure that all the old pontoons were replaced and modern ones with decent facilities installed.
He said that a “bomb” needed to be put under a lot of the existing properties along Embankment Road some of which were very shabby. He sees an opportunity to add small commercial units in various places to create jobs end encourage business activity.
He would like to see joint ventures between local organisations such as sailing clubs and the Harbour Company; maybe in the training area.
6. There were comments from the floor about adequate dredging and houseboat sewage.
The meeting closed at 6.45
Michael MacInnes
Chairman Trustees Bembridge Harbour Trust
2nd February 2012 |
