·         The audit of both harbours was carried out on 5^th January 2021, virtually due to Covid-19 lockdown.  Present at the virtual meeting were: the Senior Engineer of North Devon Council, the Harbour Master, the clerk of Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council, the Designated Person and the Health and Safety Advisor

Ilfracombe - actions completed

·         Version three of the Marine Safety Management System now referenced procedures for how to deal with suspected alcohol and drugs misuse

·         The boats out had proceeded safely as planned

·         The Environment Agency had completed repointing work on the Harbour wall by the Royal Britannia Public House

·         New tie rails had been fitted to the East end of the first Landing and the second Landing

·         New top gates had all been fitted

Ilfracombe – risk management

·         An internal audit of the following topics was carried out this quarter:

(i)            Piloting, Towage and Bunkering – found a minor non-conformity: Bunkering Standard Operating Procedure required formal acceptance by the Harbour Board and then to be displayed on the North Devon Council website

(ii)          Licensing (Works, Tugs, Craft), Permitting (Diving and Hot Works) found a minor non-conformity: Standard Operating Procedure for Diving not available on the North Devon Council website

(iii)         Auditing: Internal and External, Plans and Reporting non-conformity found whereby no performance assessment of the Marine Safety Management System or Benchmarking was carried out

·         The Fender works at First Landing had been completed and extended on the inner-side of the kiosks allowing extra landing space

·         The removal of top and bottom chains along Quay Wall was also now complete

·         Tie off rails were to be fitted at Stone Bench which would provide another two spaces

·         All chains had been fitted along Quay Road and all boat users now had their own designated chains.  Two and a half tonnes of chains had been removed from the harbour as scrap

·         Self-closing gates to close off Stone Bench and Second Landing were due to be in place by the end of February 2021

Lynmouth – actions completed

·         The Marine Safety Management System document had now been amended for the non-conformities as picked up by APBmer during the external audit

Lynmouth – risk management

·         An internal audit of the following topics was carried out:

(i)            Piloting, Towage and Bunkering

(ii)          Licensing (Works, Tugs and Craft), Permitting (Diving and Hot Works)

(iii)         Dangerous Vessels and Dangerous Substances – non-conformity: no information available to visiting boast with regards to vessel traffic movement

·         The legal status of the Harbour was still ongoing and as such most of the internal audit matters did not apply

·         A galvanised hand rail was still to be fitted at the steps opposite the Rising Sun Pub, adverse weather conditions had delayed this work

·         Works on the steps down to the slipway were also pending due to weather conditions.  It had been noted their condition had not worsened since the last visit

·         The ongoing ownership of the railings on the bridge had been assumed as that of Devon County Council’s as they had instructed contractors to begin maintenance works on all three bridges in Lynmouth