At tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting, members will be considering a recommendation to legally remove Unit 10 at Newport Quay, the former Classic Boat Museum, from the Harbour Estate.
A lease on the unit has been marketed for over 18 months, but agents have been unsuccessful in finding a tenant, due, they say, to the restrictive conditions – occupation must relate to marine or harbour use.
Reducing costs and increasing revenue
Cabinet members are to consider removing the unit from the harbour estate to improve the chances of finding a tenant, which in turn would bring new revenue (between £12-15,000 pa) and savings on current costs (around £10,000 pa).
The council can dispose of the harbour estate, provided it has first passed a resolution stating that the land is no longer “vested in, occupied or administered by the Council”, for the purposes of the Newport (Isle of Wight) Harbour Act and Orders 1852 to 1988.
Support from local council
At last week’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee, Cllr Geoff Lumley (chair of the Scrutiny Committee but also a councillor on the Newport Parish Council) commented on the item, confirming the Newport Parish Council was in favour of the recommendation.
The report states,
Newport Parish Council has commented that its, ‘members had a number of minor concerns about the future use of the premises but decided to raise no objection to the wider marketing without the usual restrictions placed on users on The Quay’. No comments were received from the local members at the time of finalising this report but they may still make representations or comment as part of the discussion at Cabinet.
Removal can be reversed
For those concerned about permanent removal of the asset from the harbour estate, the paper states that,
There would be nothing that would prevent the council at some future date from reclassifying the premises as part of the harbour estate should a use for the premises be identified which was consistent with the governing legislation and subject to the terms of any current lease of the premises.
Recommendation
The council as harbour authority for Newport harbour adopt option 1,
(1) Agree that unit 10, Newport harbour is no longer vested in, occupied or
administered by the council for the purposes of the Newport (Isle of Wight)
Harbour Act and Orders 1852 to 1988.
and
The council as local authority adopts options (3) and (7),
(3) Enter into a full repairing and insuring lease with renewal excluded and
including a break clause,for unit 10 of Newport harbour which provides best
value to the council and for any use which does not impede the operation of
the harbour or restrict the ability of the council to undertake a
redevelopment of the harbour at a later date.(7) All income received from the lease of unit 10 of Newport harbour shall
accrue to the Newport harbour revenue account.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the meeting that starts at 6.30pm sharp.
For full details of the item being considered see the report embedded below for your convenience.
Image: © Google Streetview
