Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC) has suspended a public consultation on the future of the harbour until next year, it has been announced.
CHC launched a public consultation earlier this summer to ascertain stakeholders’ initial views about a potential combining of the commission with Cowes Town Waterfront Trust (CTWT) and a possible application to the Charity Commission, among other proposals.
The initial deadline for public comment was 3rd August 2020 and a large amount of feedback has been received to date, including a general request for more information.
CHC would like to thank everyone for their feedback to date, sent in individually, via groups or through the Cowes Harbour Advisory Committee. After careful consideration of all comments received, the Commissioners agreed at a Board meeting on 12th August to suspend further public consultation, allowing time for detailed consideration of the views received.
As a Trust Port, CHC has a duty to ensure all stakeholders have sufficient time to give their views during consultation and originally, an extension to October was granted to enable further public comment. The Commissioners will now suspend the consultation and will review the position in 2021 based on the situation at the time, with a possibility of restarting the public consultation.
The priority for CHC is the safety of the harbour, however, the publically stated vision of CHC includes ‘for Cowes Harbour and the River Medina to fulfil their potential in delivering first-class port facilities and leisure services’. To enable this, CHC undertakes commercial activities in order to be self-financing, as is expected of Trust Ports, and any surplus funds raised through its activities are reinvested back into the harbour and its facilities, to the benefit of its harbour users, or ‘stakeholders’.
Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has welcomed the decision. He says it is right that they now take time to reflect on the feedback received and that he will also be having further dialogue locally.
