Reduction in Poole Harbour Dues for visitors

[GrahamD]

A 50% Reduction in Poole Harbour Dues for visitors has been announced following suggestions from local yacht clubs and marinas. Annual fees remain unchanged.

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/ne...ashed_in_bid_to_attract_more_visitors/?ref=mr

 

[rwoofer]

I know it is an old debate, but from past experiences I would only ever anchor in Poole harbour and would not expect to pay anything for that.

 

[Robin]

I know it is an old debate, but from past experiences I would only ever anchor in Poole harbour and would not expect to pay anything for that.

Exactly and Poole IS free to anchor unlike places like Chichester, Salcombe and Dartmouth, but the Yacht cLub marinas have to collect harbour dues on top from their visitors so I think it is a good move to reduce the harbor dues which will make clubs overnight visitor fees like ours at Parkstone more reasonable (We are still overseas members at PYC), I guess the same goes for POole YC and Royal Motor Yacht Club as well.

 

[Blueboatman]

One question is why did they raise them so much in the first place?
The pips are squeezed, gross revenue is down, presumably they will have the same number of harbour staff with less visitors to 'process' to justify the overheads, join up the dots...

Not just Poole either!

It does smack of 'too little too late' to moi, sadly.

 

[Robin]

One question is why did they raise them so much in the first place?
The pips are squeezed, gross revenue is down, presumably they will have the same number of harbour staff with less visitors to 'process' to justify the overheads, join up the dots...

Not just Poole either!

It does smack of 'too little too late' to moi, sadly.

THe fees were not increased they were always around but only collected for boats visiting Town Quay or the marinas including the town marina as well as the YC ones. There has never been a fee collected for anchoring. yacht clubs offering overnight visitor spots must collect harbor dues on top of their own fees which put the overall cost up there with the town marina price, which many vising yachtsmen questioned thinking the YCs were excessively profiteering

 

[Blueboatman]

Thanks for that Robin, sakes difference though surely? Ie expensive, assuming that those dues added onto non-townquay visitors offerings were diligently collected.
...And now here is a move to attract people back!
Must say, my memories of rafting at the quay are associated with 'lively' quay noises thru the night...

I am familiar with some useful anchorages within the harbour, soft mud n all..

 

[Tranona]

This is related to a dispute that is going on between some of the private marinas and PHC about the way the Town Quay marina is operated and an attempt to encourage more people to use non PHC visitor berths.

 

[Blueboatman]

Tranona , how was the town quay marina build financed, out of curiosity?
Is it now not profit making, or full of residents ?

Any idea on the visitor ratio between PHC and 'others'?

( So many questions). But you is The Man to ask .

 

[Tranona]

Tranona , how was the town quay marina build financed, out of curiosity?
Is it now not profit making, or full of residents ?

Any idea on the visitor ratio between PHC and 'others'?

( So many questions). But you is The Man to ask .

Owned and run by the Harbour Commissioners and has approx 120 berths. The dispute is about how it is used. Planning permission was granted on the basis that it was available only to visitors in the April-October period, but longer contracts available over the winter. It is claimed that PHC are offering 3 month rolling contracts to some people so reducing the number of visitor berths and taking business away from other providers. Judicial Review under way.

Problem is that other marinas are not particularly attractive to visitors as they are mostly well away from the quay and the 3 owned by clubs don't have specific visitor berths so difficult to predict availability. Reduction in dues might give a bit more publicity for other providers and encourage visitors to try them.

Proposals underway to expand Town Quay to provide another 600 or so berths which will change the dynamic significantly. PHC has lost a lot of income with the decline in cross channel ferry traffic and wants to expand leisure activities including bringing in more small cruise ships using a dedicated berth in the proposed new marina.

Lots to speculate about, but judging how quickly things move in the harbour (60+ year wait for the second bridge for example) may not happen in my lifetime!

 

[Robin]

Over here we pay $10/ft/month plus $40 for unlimited electrics for an annual berth in our marina, but visitors pay $1.70/ft/night plus another $6 for electrics and that is CHEAP by most Florida visitor standards where $4/ft/night is possible plus electrics. Cable TV is extra too

 

[Blueboatman]

Golly, thank you Tranona.
The extra berths ( dredging?) must presumably help to level out supply and demand..
Cruise ships to Poole, now that is posh .
As a kid, been known to sail right up to town quay to get spares from a bloke there who had the Coventry Victor engine agency( was always the impulse magneto cooking iirc) .. That will be another Bistro now eh?
Good luck to the clubs to get a fair look in, thanks for the comprehensive update..

 

[Blueboatman]

Over here we pay $10/ft/month plus $40 for unlimited electrics for an annual berth in our marina, but visitors pay $1.70/ft/night plus another $6 for electrics and that is CHEAP by most Florida visitor standards where $4/ft/night is possible plus electrics. Cable TV is extra too

I was a goodly few miles south of you for a while, the key thing was to get the breeze, and if possible some partial shade.. Hit 100f in the cabin one airless day with tshirt tearing humidity.. Still loved it. 120$ mo incl everything , 28 ft. Less Harley's , more mom n pop type restaurants and good time bars ...

 

[Tranona]

Golly, thank you Tranona.
The extra berths ( dredging?) must presumably help to level out supply and demand..
Cruise ships to Poole, now that is posh .
As a kid, been known to sail right up to town quay to get spares from a bloke there who had the Coventry Victor engine agency( was always the impulse magneto cooking iirc) .. That will be another Bistro now eh?
Good luck to the clubs to get a fair look in, thanks for the comprehensive update..

Not quite how many residents see it. They already think there are too many boats in the harbour and have seen what has happened to the town since planning restrictions on holiday flats have been effectively removed. They of course conveniently ignore the fact that the marine industry (Sunseeker and RNLI particularly) is a major employer. One good thing about the proposal is that it does not spoil the view for too many people. One of the objectives is to reduce the number of swinging moorings in the harbour to open up a bit more for sailing.

We already have a regular lot of cruise ships - but the high class ones that look like overblown Russian gangster boats - although I am told by people who cruise on them that the clients are very nice people, just looking for a bit of old fashioned culture.

BTW if you go back far enough, not quite to the days when cod was landed from Newfoundland, you will have found my old employers British Seagull happily making engines on the quay at the end near the bridge. Happy days!

 

[Robin]

I was a goodly few miles south of you for a while, the key thing was to get the breeze, and if possible some partial shade.. Hit 100f in the cabin one airless day with tshirt tearing humidity.. Still loved it. 120$ mo incl everything , 28 ft. Less Harley's , more mom n pop type restaurants and good time bars ...

We have two air conditioning units on our new to us sailboat and three on the mobo we were living on and just sold. We can run the sailboat owner's cabin one on a mall 1000w Honda genset or even off the inverter for a while or in harbour run whatever we like 24/7 But this is HARLEY Town USA ESPECIALLY DURING BIKE WEEK IN SPRING AND BIKETOBERFEST IN October.

One of the many FREE Intracoastal Waterway anchorages is right outside our condo and fishing pier and when you see the visitor (or 'transient ' slip rates you can see why so many anchor, especially this time of year with folks trying to get north of St Mary's Georgia before June 1st to Dodge the extra insurance premiums for named storms. We don't have Harbour dues but have to pay about $100 a year Florida Use Tax which is almost the same I guess. Even the dink has to have Florida Reg (it is too small for Federal Reg and even tenders have to be State registered) and pay the use tax at about $30 IIRC. THe main boat is USCG FEderally Registered but that doesn't cost nor does it get us off the Florida Use Tax sadly.