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Cowes Harbour Commission
Harbour Authority & Marine Services
Newsletter 18th November 2020
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CHC's Kingston Wharf site to be redeveloped |
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CHC has worked again with other Solent and South Coast harbours to achieve, as far as practicable, a common approach and guidelines for the implementation of the Government’s latest COVID-19 lockdown. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued understanding, co-operation and compliance with the guidelines as promulgated via both our E-newsletters and Notices to Mariners.
The Cowes Harbour Advisory Committee, led by Chair John Corby, held their November meeting online last Friday, at which CHC was able to consult stakeholder representatives on our outline plans for an exciting redevelopment of our Cowes Harbour Services Kingston Wharf site in East Cowes. Following discussions, the Harbour Advisory Committee recorded their strong support for the Kingston project, local marine employment and ensuring there are modern facilities for marine industry on the River Medina. You can read more about the regeneration plans in our E-news article below.
I would also like to highlight that this year’s Annual Public Meeting for harbour users and stakeholders will be taking place online on 16th December and we will send out a further E-newsletter nearer the time with information on how to attend, virtually of course.
Finally, I would like to welcome our new Harbour Engineer, Jeremy Smither, who has recently taken up this new post with CHC and will be working closely with our Marine Services Manager Jock Rafferty at both our Kingston Wharf and Shepards Marina sites.
Capt. Stuart McIntosh - Cowes Harbour Master
Top image: Artist's impression of proposed Kingston Wharf development
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Virtual Annual Public Meeting |
CHC’s Annual Public Meeting, which has been delayed from May due to Government COVID-19 restrictions on indoor gatherings, will now take place online via a Zoom webinar on Wednesday, 16th December 2020 at 1900hrs. Invitations and a link to join the virtual Annual Public Meeting will be emailed out to stakeholders in a couple of weeks along with an agenda.
Questions & Answers
Harbour users and stakeholders are welcome to pre-submit questions or comments ahead of the Public Meeting and these can be sent direct to the Cowes Harbour Advisory Committee (CHAC) via email to: chac@cowes.co.uk.
We hope that as many harbour users and stakeholders as possible will be able to join us virtually for the Annual Public Meeting.
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Kingston Wharf regeneration plans
Cowes Harbour Advisory Committee supports CHC plans to redevelop Kingston Wharf in East Cowes as a marine focused industrial estate.
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Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) has had a harbour workshop at the Kingston Wharf site in East Cowes since 2000, then leased and developed the boatyard operation in 2004 and acquired the site and wharf in 2012. The 10-acre waterfront marine employment site is home to the Cowes Harbour Services Boatyard, Commercial Marine Operations, and Self-Storage facility, as well as a number of onsite independent business tenants.
The last two years have seen significant changes with the departure of the two largest commercial tenants. Initially, Isle of Wight Aggregates took the decision to consolidate their operations onto their existing site in Cowes, and recently, Isle of Wight Fuels ceased their fuel import business by ship to Kingston Wharf. These commercial decisions by independent companies involved in bulk shipping and supply to the Isle of Wight will have significant implications for the harbour and are likely to result in the need to adjust strategic planning for the harbour and the Island.
The former aggregates site and wharf has been marketed for a couple of years but without significant resulting interest. CHC has therefore been considering alternative and strategically beneficial opportunities for further developing the potential of the Kingston site with its all-tide deep-water access and wharfage. As a result, CHC commissioned a feasibility plan from a project manager led team of architects and civil and structural engineers to investigate the potential for partial redevelopment as a marine business park and boatyard facility to re-establish the long-term viability of the site.
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New Harbour Engineer for CHC |
CHC is delighted to announce the promotion of Port Operative Jeremy Smither to the newly created role of Harbour Engineer for Cowes.
As Harbour Engineer, Jeremy Smither will provide support to the Marine Services Manager Jock Rafferty and be responsible for the maintenance of all CHC’s marine and property assets, including river and harbour moorings, vessels, plant, equipment and buildings.
Jeremy joined CHC in June 2020, working initially as a Port Operative due to the COVID-19 situation, but will now take up his new role of Harbour Engineer.
From dinghy sailing as a child, to undertaking a four-year world cruise with his family at the age of 20, Jeremy has been on boats in one form or another for his whole life. He is an ex-RYA Ocean Yachtmaster Instructor with UKSA and has worked as Chief Engineer on superyachts up to 66 metres. As an MCA trained engineer to Y3 level, he will be converting his tickets to the new Small Vessel Engineer tickets in the coming months.
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Top five reasons for calling out the RNLI to boaters |
The RNLI shares a new video highlighting their top 5 reasons for a call out to boaters plus tips on how to avoid them and we catch up with the Cowes RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager for some local advice.
The RNLI was called out over 13,000 times to boaters from 2017 to 2019. A new video, produced with the RYA, reveals the top five reasons lifeboat crews were called into action along with tips on how to avoid the need to call for help. They include human error, sinking, running aground and equipment failure, but the top reason for an emergency call out in the last two years was machinery failure, with more than 4,000 incidents.
Cowes Lifeboat is one of the dedicated Search and Rescue resources for the Solent, covering the area between Yarmouth and Ryde. Mark Southwell, Cowes RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager said: "When things do go wrong, being able to tell the Coastguard who and where you are and exactly what's happened is the key thing. If you only have a mobile phone, please make sure it's fully charged and in a waterproof case. A handheld marine VHF should be easy to get to and again fully charged. Make your call early, when things go wrong at sea the situation can change rapidly.
"The waters off Cowes are some of the busiest in Britain, with huge commercial ships. Strong tides combined with high winds can change sea conditions noticeably. You may have set off in good weather, the wind picks up, the tide turns against it and all of a sudden that enjoyable day out has become a big problem. Within the video is the message to be prepared to go to sea, it's fun but has its own challenges."
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Marine flare explosion at Island waste management park |
As reported by the Isle of Wight Council last week, a marine flare left out with normal household waste caused an explosion at the Council's Forest Road waste plant. Fortunately, the incident was contained immediately and safely by staff on site and nobody was injured.
The Isle of Wight Council's Waste and Environment Manager, Natasha Dix, explained: "Somebody had put out a marine distress flare with general waste, and this ignited when it was going through the recycling machinery at the Forest Road plant. There are a few things that are too dangerous to be put in the general recycling, and so we ask people to keep our operatives safe, and not put out old batteries, or pyrotechnics such as marine flares."
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