Mooring fee hikes remain after second attempt to stem rises fails

Friday 22 March 2024

Mooring fee rises of between 20% and 31% will hit in April after members rejected calls for a more modest rise.

Deputy David De Lisle led a requete which attempted to instead put in a flat rate increase of 10%, but it would have left a hole of more than £250,000 in the States Trading Supervisory Committee’s budget.

The debate, which ran for more than six hours, came just a few months after a bid to block the rises by annulling the statutory instrument which brings them in was unsuccessful.

Along the way, members also rejected options of an across the board rise of 24.5% and a 10% rise coupled with a direction to raise just over £260,000 by hiking other fees, delaying capital spending or other cuts.

As arguments were made about a historic lack of investment in the harbour's infrastructure, members were told that the QE2 marina gate will shortly need replacing at a cost of more than £7m.

Pictured: How they voted on the requete to keep mooring fee rises to 10% this year. It was rejected by 20 votes to 18.

The fees rises will add around £400 to the annual charge for a medium size boat, while a sliding scale means smaller vessels see a lower percentage increase than larger ones.

The mooring fee rise was among a host of charges being increased at the harbours and airports to help plug the reliance on taxpayer money - Guernsey Ports is forecast to lose £6m. last year.

Those in favour of the requete feared that it would price people out of owning a boat, part of the island's heritage.

Deputy De Lisle had argued that the harbours were cross subsidising losses at the airport.

Marina facilities in Guernsey are well below those in Jersey, France and the UK - there was much to be worked on to improve the facilities and utilise the surpluses boat owners were bringing in, he said.

The boat owners are reliant on the States to give them fairness, he said, and it was through the requete that would be done.

It lost by 20 votes to 18.

How consultation had been conducted with boat owners was a major cause for concern for some members.

One element of the requete did, though, sail through.

That directs STSB to consult with the Guernsey Boatowners Association and the Guernsey Marine Traders Association before any increases in 2025 and 2026.