You are missing the point, the harbour itself is part of the facilities and by anchoring within it you are expected to pay for that use - harbours cost money to maintain and exist and are subject to all sorts of statutory conditions. Some harbours, such as Chichester will charge you merely to enter, you don't even have to drop an anchor to become responsible for a fee. Most moorings/marinas within a harbour, even the private ones, will have an element of "harbour dues" which are collected on behalf of and passed to the harbour authority. The General Directions for harbours will often stipulate that a fee is due from all vessels "using" the harbour but most don't actually enforce it, collecting it for anchoring or mooring instead. The option is always there not to pay anything by not going there and anchoring somewhere where there is no fee payable.
You are missing the point, the harbour itself is part of the facilities and by anchoring within it you are expected to pay for that use
Err, some natural harbours were built /formed that way by nature itself, with no cost to Councils or more recently HA.
Indeed most shore based banks, foreshore, walls, quays, piers, jetties are privately owned, not by the HA so are maintained independently of the HA, so the HA has no responsibility to maintain them and so those using /entering said Harbours have no responsibility to pay for the upkeep etc to any HA.
The river beds below mean HW and harbour beds below mean HW are another matter, usually the crown estates or in Cornwall the duchy I understand are the owners, with some river beds privately owned, as are some rivers themselves.
So can be quite misleading to suggest that harbours need/require a tax/charge to maintain them.
Would be a great idea if there was an authoritive publication covering the UK clearly stating the ownership and responsibilities over all harbours and rivers
Perhaps I should qualify what I mean when I talk about harbours - I am talking about "statutory ports", including "trust ports", most council run harbours are also statutory ports. These have clearly defined boundaries and by virtue of being statutory ports they have statutory obligations such as the need to comply with the "Port Marine Safety Code" which do incur costs. Most harbours , certainly those that charge any form of harbour dues, fall into the statutory port category so I would say it isn't actually misleading - it is probably more misleading to talk about charging for river beds which only apply to very few places such as the Duchy and the Montague Estate and, not suprisingly, rivers. Harbours actually charge for use of the harbour and it isn't really anything to do with rivers or high and low water marks.Err, some natural harbours were built /formed that way by nature itself, with no cost to Councils or more recently HA.
Indeed most shore based banks, foreshore, walls, quays, piers, jetties are privately owned, not by the HA so are maintained independently of the HA, so the HA has no responsibility to maintain them and so those using /entering said Harbours have no responsibility to pay for the upkeep etc to any HA.
The river beds below mean HW and harbour beds below mean HW are another matter, usually the crown estates or in Cornwall the duchy I understand are the owners, with some river beds privately owned, as are some rivers themselves.
So can be quite misleading to suggest that harbours need/require a tax/charge to maintain them.
Would be a great idea if there was an authoritive publication covering the UK clearly stating the ownership and responsibilities over all harbours and rivers
