News and Announcements

You can find all the latest news and announcements from the River Yealm Harbour Authority below.

River Yealm Harbour Authority

Lockdown

During the forthcoming lockdown from Tuesday 5^th January 2021 until further notice it is anticipated that the River Yealm Harbour will remain open. However, the Harbour Authority requests that harbour users adhere to the new Government restrictions in all respects. These may be found at the Government website https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus under Restrictions in England.

Following the publication of the Government roadmap for the easement of lockdown restrictions we will be welcoming overnight visitors from the 12th April. Shared facilities, such as the visiting boaters showers and the RNLI lockers will not be open until the 17th May at the earliest.

Bridgend lift in

Weather permitting, lift in will be on the 8th April.

Day Launch Fee

From the 1^st April 2021 the RYHA has introduced a charge for anyone, resident and visitor, launching any vessel or craft within the confines of the Harbour Authority limits on a daily basis and taking it away from the harbour at night. Existing charges apply to vessels or craft left on the foreshore overnight. Further details can be found on our web site or from the Harbour Office.

ELECTION OF MOORING HOLDER’S REPRESENTATIVES POSTPONEMENT

An election is due to be held from 6pm to 8pm on Wednesday 24^th February 2021 in the WI Hall, Newton Ferrers to elect three mooring holders’ representatives for the ensuing three years. Since the election was called the Government introduced a new national lockdown. To date it is not known when this will end. The Authority has kept developments in respect of Coronavirus precautions under review. When the election was announced there were three obvious possibilities:

With three or less nominations no election would be necessary.
If the lockdown were to be lifted it might be possible to hold the election in as safe a fashion as possible.
If neither of the above, then regrettably the election would have to be postponed.

We are in the third scenario with more than three nominations. At the Authority’s monthly meeting on Thursday 21^st January the following resolution was passed unanimously:

09/21 MOORING HOLDER’S ELECTIONS 24^TH FEBRUARY 2021

It is considered unreasonable to hold an Authority election during the current national Covid-19 lockdown, whilst fulfilling the requirements of The Yealm Harbour Revision Order 1981 for elections. Mooring holders would be required to attend an election station and some may feel uncomfortable doing so. As a consequence, it was decided that, should there be more than three mooring holders’ representative nominations received by the closing time of midnight on 11th February, the election on 24^th February will need to be postponed. This will need to be communicated to the nominees and all mooring holders qualified to vote. A new election, following the requirements of The Yealm Harbour Revision Order 1981, will be held as soon as it is safe to do so, hopefully by April prior to the Annual General Meeting. If a new election is required, it was noted that the complete notification, nomination and resulting election process will need to start anew.

The exiting mooring holders’ representatives are required to stand down on 28^th February on completion of their three-year terms, in any event. Changes to those nominated by the Parish Councils and the Royal Yachting Association will take effect on 1^st March. If it is necessary to postpone the election of mooring holders, the nominated members of the Authority will run the Authority in the interim.

The Authority is reinforced in its decision by the earlier postponement of local Government elections, which now provisionally may take place in May. Whilst that does not affect the Harbour Authority election it is a strong pointer for the right course of action. Consideration has been made for a postal ballot but the Revision Order, which governs how the Authority operates, does not permit this or any other alternative which we can think of. The Authority is obliged to start the election process again which involves at least one month’s notice. To avoid a repeat of this postponement, the Authority considers it prudent to aim for an election in April, ideally no later than 14^th April, or possibly before, if an earlier lifting of the current lockdown permits.

Your current Mooring Holder Representatives, Dominic Crawley, Andrew Mathews and Martin Mears will stand down from the Authority as elected Mooring Holder Representatives at the end of their three year terms of office on 28^th February. David Southwood will also stand down as Royal Yachting Association nominee on completion of his third three-year term being succeeded by Dominic Crawley. Philip Parry Smith and Tony Tubb will be succeeded by Peter Hinchliffe and Mark Steggles as nominees of Newton & Noss PC. So, in the interim from 1^st March the Authority will comprise the stakeholder nominated members: Dermod Drought (Wembury PC), Martyn Oates (Brixton PC), John Endicott (Yealmpton PC), Rodney Carter, Peter Hinchliffe and Mark Steggles (Newton & Noss PC) and Dominic Crawley (RYA).

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Harbour Office.

David Southwood

Chairman RYHA