|
THERE have been calls for mass resignations from
the body controlling a struggling Cornish port after revelations that
it is massively in the red.
According
to accounts exclusively obtained by the Western Morning News, the
Harbour Commission in charge of Newlyn port lost nearly £182,000 in
2008.
The
papers, which are for the last year that accounts are available, up to
the end of March 2008, also reveal that, in the previous financial
year, spending outstripped income by an astonishing £207,000.
The
news comes as a further blow to Newlyn, which has just suffered a
humiliating setback when a £2 million grant for a new fish market was
rejected because of a poor business case.
After
years of turmoil as the fleet size was cut to accommodate quota rules,
many fishermen are muttering that radical new leadership is needed if
the port is to survive.
David Stevens, skipper of the Crystal Sea, lands his catch at Newlyn but sells at Plymouth because of the better facilities.
He called for a "total clean sweep".
"In my opinion, for many years they [the Harbour Commission] have not been forward-thinking.
"They have had proposals before them but they have not grasped the nettle and moved forward.
"That is just bad management, as far as I'm concerned."
Mr Stevens said the Harbour Commission had been "too insular" for too long. "It's been going on for 20 years."
Newlyn
Harbour, on the tip of South West Britain, is in the prime position to
land fish from some of the richest waters in the world.
But, said Mr Stevens, that was being squandered.
"Newlyn could have a great future if they really looked to it. We could get European vessels landed there.
"The geography is perfect, there is no better place than Newlyn. But we need to clear out the dead wood."
As
Newlyn is a port with trust status, it is run by a Harbour Commission
with members appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport. Trust
ports are independent statutory bodies governed by unique local
legislation and controlled by an independent board, rather than
shareholders.
There are currently six Harbour Commissioners at Newlyn, the quorum for any decisions to be legal.
Representing boat owners are chairman Billy Stevenson, Mike Williams and Steven Hicks.
Mr
Stevenson is a senior member of the firm W Stevenson and Sons Ltd,
which has admitted breaking EU quota laws by "blacking" fish –
falsifying landing documents to allow the fish to be sold more
expensively – between April and September 2002. The company is expected
to be ordered to pay back all the illegal proceeds of its actions, but
a confiscation hearing was adjourned last month for extra data to be
gathered.
County
councillor John Payne represents the local authority on the Harbour
Commission, fish merchant Godfrey Adams represents his industry and
Edward Bolitho was co-opted on to the body last year.
The
Harbour Commission governs the activities around Newlyn port and,
according to its own official accounts, has assets of more than £6.7
million, as valued in March 2006.
According
to the Revenue Account for 2008, Newlyn Harbour made £575,000. This
income largely comes from landing fees and charging for facilities.
However,
the Harbour Commission is living well beyond its means, spending
£758,000 in 2008, including £114,000 on repairs, £217,000 on staff
costs and £17,000 on bank and interest charges. The previous year, the
Harbour Commission's turnover was £585,000, but its expenditure was
£793,000, with repairs of £122,000, staff costs of £234,000 and bad
debts written off of £10,000.
The Harbour Commission is currently in the process of a review which could set new rules for the way it is governed.
However, this Harbour Review Order is in limbo because of one objection.
A
spokesman for the Department for Transport, which oversees Britain's
ports, confirmed there was one objection to the harbour revision
outstanding, which if not withdrawn may lead to a public inquiry being
held into the new rules.
She said: "It has been decided that the one outstanding objection cannot be counted as trivial and therefore stands.
"If it is not withdrawn, then a public inquiry will have to be held."
The DfT was asked to comment on Newlyn Harbour being £182,000 in the red.
The spokesman said all ports were expected to abide by DfT rules, but that the department would not comment on individual cases.
According
to its guidelines, Modernising Trust Ports, a Guide to Good Governance,
board members must have a range of skills and attributes. While they do
not insist that trust ports must always operate in the black, they do
call for "good housekeeping".
In
terms of probity, the guidelines state: "As a general rule, any board
member who has been previously dismissed from any trust board should
not be reconsidered for appointment, neither should any applicant who
is bankrupt or has a criminal conviction remaining unspent."
article copyright WESTERN MORNING NEWS
 |
It is also highly significant and probably no coincidence that the middle ranking Bod from the DfT responsible for dealing with Newlyn Harbour appears to have been despatched towards Newlyn recently. Could this be because the Department after years of apparently ignoring the problem in the hope that it will go away has finally and belatedly realised that it is close to blowing?
Hitherto the Bod in question a certain Colin Morris has been less than receptive to various attempts at highlighting Newlyns developing problems caused largely by an incompetent reactionary style of management. This has brought the Harbour to the brink of financial failure as vital revenue streams continue to diminish. The harbours deteriorating financial situation was recently publicly exposed by the damning report above which appeared in the Western Morning News.
The question must be publicly put to Colin Morris, why has the DfT has apparently stood idly by over a protracted period while the Newlyn Harbour Commissioners appear to have wilfully neglected to comply with the Departments own Guide to Good Governance in Trust Ports.
This set of quite reasonable commonsense guidelines ought to have been complied with by 2002 yet seven years on Newlyn Harbour Commissioners are apparently still not fully compliant.
It is a similar case with regard to the long delayed Harbour Revision Order designed to pave the way for the changes necessary to update the harbours antediluvian constitution. It is appreciated that such matters do take some time however its stuttering progress has borne the classic hallmarks of a campaign of dumb insolence designed to quietly obstruct its progress indefinitely. While the Revision Order has remained in limbo the port has been, effectively, prevented from moving forward.
Another glaring example of the chaos created by this style of mismanagement is the fiasco of the new fish market which is now in danger of failing as a result of so many of the more progresssive operators losing all patience and despatching their fish to Plymouth for sale.
There is a school of thought that the present group of commissioners are actually an illegally constituted body as no elections have been held within the timescale dictated by the present constitution.
There is also the sensitive issue of various Commissioners who have at various times been convicted of fishing offences which,like it or not are criminal, according to DfT guidelines this would disqualify any person in such a position from seving as a Harbour Commissioner.
Perhaps finally, the full horror of the situation in Newlyn hss now become fully apparent to the Government Department responsible. Hopefully they will, however belatedly, take the neccessary robust action required to rebuild confidence in any revamped Harbour Management which will inevitably now face an uneccessary uphill struggle to realise Newlyns massive future potential.