Port of Ramsgate Berth 4 / 5: Questions & Answers

The tender was for a consultant to draft the specification for works to berths 4 /5 which will be followed by a tender for a design and build contract.

Thanet District Council is only replacing what already exists. It does not include the Council providing a conveyor which is purely the responsibility of Brett.

Brett Aggregates is not obliged to pay for any repairs but we would seek contributions for enhancements.

Brett Aggregates does not have exclusive use of berths 4 / 5.

The council is obliged to repair/renew berths 4 / 5  as stated in the Facilities Agreement.

The tenant (Brett Aggregates) has no property interest in berths 4 / 5.

Thanet District Council’s sub-lease with the tenant requires Brett Aggregates to keep the land demised by the lease  (i.e. where the concrete batching plant is situated) in reasonable condition.

The Council has a legal obligation to repair/renew berths 4 / 5 – this is contained within the Facilities Agreement with Brett Aggregates.

The funding allocated is approximately £1.5m – improvement works to Port Berths has been a project identified in the Capital Programme since at least 2016.

Yes, it was included in the 2019/20 budget and Councillors agreed the funding for these repairs at the following meetings:

• Cabinet 15 January 2019
• Scrutiny 24 January 2019
• Cabinet 29 January 2019
• Council 28 February 2019 (Full Council approval of the budget)

Officers, through delegated authority can then implement the budget decision. The Council is legally obliged to repair the berth.

The Leader of the Council confirmed an allocation of funds to carry out a feasibility study to look at the wider options for the Port and Harbour should a ferry operator not be forthcoming.

This £40K funding has nothing to do with the tender and is not being used for the scoping report.

No, the wider feasibility study hasn’t yet been carried out, the completion deadline for this work is December 2019.

Any future works will not be an upgrade of the berth as it is a repair/renew activity which Thanet District Council is obliged to carry out as part of the Facilities Agreement it has with Brett Aggregates.

The permitted use is for processing aggregates and a concrete batching plant.

There is no permission within the lease to use it for waste; the invitation for tender is purely to repair/renew berths 4 / 5.

Thanet District Council has no knowledge of this.

Berths 4 / 5 have not received any major refurbishment work in recent years.

Refurbishment works were undertaken to Berths 2 and 3 in 2016, this was based on the anticipation that we would secure a new cross channel ferry operation at the port.

No. Kent County Council is the planning Authority responsible for Waste and Minerals which includes Brett Aggregates activity, not Thanet District Council.

Once the budget has been set the Officers have delegated authority to implement the decisions from the budget.

The current tender is for a consultant to draft the specification for works to berths 4 / 5 which will be followed in due course by a tender for a design and build contract.

Any future works will not be an upgrade of the berth as it is a repair/renew activity which Thanet District Council is obliged to carry out as part of the Facilities Agreement it has with Brett Aggregates.

Activities at the Port will be subject to future consideration as part of the options appraisal work which will need to consider Thanet District Council’s current legal obligations to Crown Estates and tenants/licensees of the Port and Harbour.