Agenda item

SH.35/21              

The Monitoring Officer presented the Board with his report outlining the need for clarification as to the Duty Holder for Salcombe Harbour, in line with the Port Marine Safety Code 2016.

It was highlighted that the Allington and Strete Ward would also be affected and therefore would need to be added to the report’s front sheet.  The report outlined the three options available to the Board: the duty holder could be a) all Members of South Hams District Council (SHDC); b) all Board Members of Salcombe Harbour Board (SHB); or c) a senior Council officer.  The Monitoring Officer confirmed that the Scheme of Delegation would be subject to annual review imminently, but that there was a need to identify the duty holder before this review was completed.

In discussion, the following points were raised:-

(a)      An issue, which had been highlighted before, was that some areas under the responsibility of the duty holder were outside of the jurisdiction of SHB and therefore SHB could not currently be appointed as duty holder.

(b)      Several Members agreed that the report did not give sufficient analysis of the three options available,.

(c)       A Member highlighted that, as SHB did not have control of all assets, then the role of duty officer could not currently sit with the Board.  It was pointed out that, as with Cornwall Council, all SHDC Members could receive free training to be signed up to be joint duty holders.  In such an instance, SHB would be advisors to the Duty Holder.

(d)      Paragraph 3.4 of the attendant report stated that it would be beneficial to maintain a clear split between the democratic function of SHB (strategy and policy) and the Duty Holder’s function regarding safety.  Several Members felt that safety could not be separated out from strategy and policy as all three areas were integral to each other.

(e)      It was commented that the senior officer role that was recommended to be the designated  duty holder was already a busy role within the Council, with limited capacity and that a short course on the duty holder role could not replace experience. 

(f)        It was recommended that there was a need to have a breakdown of who did what, outlining the responsibility of SHB, responsibility of the duty holder, and how these responsibilities interacted and overlapped.  It was felt that this information should be available to be considered alongside this agenda item.

(g)      One Member offered to do the duty holder training for free if required – this was due to the experience he already had in training other individuals.

(h)      It was also noted that the new Board Member, who would be starting in May 2022, was an ex Harbour Master of a very busy port, who had been working with the Port Marine Safety Code.  Therefore his input to the Board could be very useful.

(i)        One Member stated that he thought the responsibility for safety should sit with the people who worked on the frontline and therefore knew the issues first hand.

(j)        A couple of Members were in favour of the Port Holder position being held by the Director of Place and Enterprise from SHDC.

(k)      The Chairman stated that Dartmouth Harbour had recently gone through a similar exercise and he would contact representatives regarding details of cost and outcomes.

It was then proposed and seconded that the Board needed a review of the issues as outlined above, where the roles of the SHB were agreed, particularly in regard to safety, then further analysis of the three options available should be presented, and then the report could be brought back to the Board for further consideration.

It was further agreed that the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Board, would complete the redrafting of the Scheme of Delegation and re-write the report in line with the above suggestions, to bring back to the next SHB meeting on 21 March 2022.  If the Monitoring Officer needed to take external advice, a budget of £5,000 maximum was agreed which was to come from the Harbour General Reserve.

It was then:

RESOLVED

That the report should be brought back to the next Board meeting (21 March 2022), and, in the meantime, the following points should be taken into account by the Monitoring Officer, in consultation with the Board Chair and Vice Chair, and external experts if required; with any monies for this to be funded by the Harbour General Reserve (up to a maximum of £5,000):

·           The paper tabled by SHDC to be placed in abeyance for the time being pending a draft governance paper and further options analysis with subsequent consideration by the Harbour Board.

·           The current duty holding arrangements to remain in place, pending resolution, accepting that the duty holder is not clearly articulated.

·           A governance paper (or constitution document) to be drawn up that clearly articulates the role, responsibilities and authority of the Harbour Board and specifically identifies its role in safety management and its relationship to the duty holder. The constitution should consider all aspects of the Board’s role including policy, finance, safety, marine, environmental, infrastructure, harbour staff and membership (this is not an exhaustive list). 

·           An independent options analysis to be conducted looking at the potential options for discharging the duty holder role with a clear articulation of the benefits, costs and ease of implementation of each option.

·           The draft governance/constitution document and duty holding options analysis paper to be brought back to the Harbour Board for consideration and, if agreed, recommended to the full Council (as Harbour Authority) for adoption.