New centre for seafarers - 9/1/12
A new drop-in centre that will be used by thousands of seafarers from around the world was opened by Chris Lewis, Managing Director, DP World Southampton, on Monday 9 January. Around 20,000 seafarers pass through DP World Southampton’s container terminal each year, many of whom go for months at a time without speaking to family members or even stepping off the vessel they’re sailing with.
To provide sailors with a rest area while ashore, DP World Southampton has donated land at the end of its 207 berth to the Seafarers Centre enabling a drop-in centre to be installed. The facility has been built in addition to the main Seafarers Centre in Queens Terrace in Southampton because a lot of crew members do not even have the time to visit the main centre or the city.
Posted 12/01/2012 14:10
Captain announced for Olympic boat voyage - 7/1/12
A sailor from Hampshire is to take command of an Olympic boat built from wooden donations. Mike Barham, from Gosport, will be at the helm of the 30ft yacht which is due to sail along the south coast during the 2012 Olympics. The vessel built at Emsworth, near Portsmouth, will set sail in July. During the Olympic Games, the boat will be on show in Weymouth which will host the sailing events during the Olympics and Paralympics. More than 1,200 wooden donations have been made into the boat, including a piece of Jimi Hendrix's guitar and a section of Brighton's West Pier.
Posted 09/01/2012 11:02
Chief Executive Appointed for MMO - 15/12/11
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has appointed James Cross as Chief Executive of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO). He has been with the MMO for almost two years, most recently as Acting Chief Executive and previously as MMO Director of Operations. The appointment was made after an open and external competition which attracted many high quality applicants.
Prior to joining the MMO, James served as HM Assistant Chief Inspector of Court Administration for England and Wales, and brings a thorough understanding of the challenges and opportunities that exist within a regulatory environment. He also has previous experience serving in HM Revenue & Customs and local government in addition to the Criminal Justice sector.
Posted 15/12/2011 16:03
Pretty Time Shipping found guilty of palm oil spillage - 8/12/11
A shipping company has been found guilty of causing palm oil to wash up on shores in Hampshire and West Sussex. Pretty Time Shipping, based in Singapore, was fined £20,000 for illegally dumping the substance. Beaches at Hayling Island and The Witterings were closed after yellow waxy lumps were found on 11 January.
Southampton Magistrates' Court heard tests showed the lumps were linked to samples taken on the company's tanker, Pretty Time. An investigation by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) discovered the Panamanian-registered tanker had off-loaded a cargo of palm oil while anchored off the Isle of Wight.
Posted 09/12/2011 09:54
Navy museum in Portsmouth gets £1.4m lottery grant - 4/12/11
Portsmouth's navy museum has been given a £1.4m lottery grant for new exhibitions. The National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN) at the Historic Dockyard will use the money to tell the story of the navy since 1900.
The Georgian Storehouse 10, built in 1776, will be restored to accommodate the museum's collections. Storehouse 10 will be connected to Storehouse 11, enabling the museum to showcase four centuries of its naval history together for the first time.
Posted 05/12/2011 14:19
Habitats and Wild Birds Directives – review of implementation - 29/11/11
The Government has announced that it will undertake a review of the implementation of the EU Habitats and Wild Birds Directives in England. The announcement was made by the Chancellor on 29 November 2011 in his Autumn Statement.
To review the Habitats and Wild Bird Directives as currently implemented in England by the Habitats Regulations and Offshore Marine Conservation Regulations, focussing in particular on those obligations that affect the authorisation process for proposed development, with a view to reducing the burdens on businesses while maintaining the integrity of the purpose of the directives.
Posted 02/12/2011 11:13
Minister unveils revised cuts to UK coastguard centres - 22/11/11
Several UK coastguard centres previously earmarked for closure have been given a reprieve - but eight will still go, with a loss of 159 jobs. At present, the 18 operate in nine pairs covering overlapping geographical areas. Under the revised plans, at least one of each pair will be retained, and in the case of Stornoway and Shetland, both will remain open.
The co-ordination centres at Forth, Clyde, Great Yarmouth, Liverpool, Thames, Swansea, Brixham and Portland will close by March 2015 - although some limited functions, such as radio masts, will remain at Liverpool, Swansea and Thames.
The centre at Solent will be replaced by the new Maritime Operations Centre (MOC) in Fareham, which will be housed in the vacant Fire Control Centre building. An unmanned back-up MOC will be established at the existing Dover centre and both this and Fareham will operate on a 24-hour basis.
Posted 23/11/2011 10:47
Defra to Commission more Scientific Research on MCZs - 17/11/11
The Government’s first step to identifying new Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) was taken forward through four regional MCZ projects managed by the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies. The regional projects provided their recommendations for proposed sites for MCZs on 8 September 2011. These recommendations were reviewed by the independent Science Advisory Panel (SAP). This Panel advised that there are a number of gaps and limitations in the scientific evidence base supporting the MCZ recommendations.
To address these gaps, Defra will be commissioning significant additional work to support MCZ designation including an in depth review of the evidence base for all the regional projects’ site recommendations, and committing additional resources to carrying out seabed and habitat monitoring. Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee will provide the MCZ impact assessment and their formal advice in July 2012. This is six months later than previously planned.
Public consultation on MCZs will take place by the end of 2012. This consultation will include all sites recommended by the regional projects with clarity on how and when work on them will be taken forward. It is envisaged that the first MCZ designations will take place in 2013. The Solent lies within the Balanced Seas regional project, see www.balancedseas.org/.
Posted 21/11/2011 10:41
Navitus Bay Onshore Exhibition - 14/11/11
Two public exhibitions are to be held at West Moors to help people find out more information about the onshore aspects of the project and two proposed sites for a new onshore substation. Members of the public will also have a chance to provide feedback on their preferred substation location, enabling Eneco to consider the most suitable site.
The proposed Navitus Bay Wind Park will have a capacity of up to 1200MW, generating power for between 615,000 and 820,000 homes each year. An onshore substation is needed to transform the electrical power generated by the offshore wind park to the voltage of the National Grid.
The proposed substation sites near Mannington were selected based on a detailed appraisal of location options for Navitus Bay, taking into account environmental, visual and engineering considerations.
The public exhibitions are due to be held at the West Moors Pavilion in Fryer Field off Bond Avenue in West Moors on:
Friday 18th November – 2pm to 8pm
Saturday 19th November – 10am – 4pm
Formal consultation on the offshore aspects of the project is set to take place in first quarter 2012, with public exhibitions across Dorset, Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight.
If you are unable to attend the public exhibitions on 18th and 19th November, but would like more information, please visit the website at www.navitusbaywindpark.co.uk.
Posted 15/11/2011 10:53
Major scheme to start in Millbrook - 11/11/11
Southern Water is investing £25.8 million to upgrade Millbrook Wastewater Treatment Works, Western Docks, Southampton. In a major environmental improvement scheme, parts of the site will be rebuilt and the treatment process enhanced.
The upgrade will include a new process to remove nutrients, such as nitrogen, from the treated wastewater recycled into the Solent. When the levels of nutrients are too high, algal blooms can grow in coastal waters. These may reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and can smother fish and other creatures.
The removal of these nutrients will ensure the water leaving the site is of the best possible quality and continues to meet tightening Environment Agency standards.
Construction is due to start in late 2011 and complete in the summer of 2014. Following the upgrade, Millbrook will have the capacity to treat up to 73 million litres of wastewater per day from a population of about 130,000 people. Work will be carried out by contractor 4Delivery.
Posted 16/11/2011 11:12
Majority of England’s bathing waters meet strict quality standards - 8/11/11
The majority of England’s bathing waters continue to meet rigorous quality standards, new figures from Defra reveal. Nearly 80 per cent of England’s bathing waters met the tightest guideline standard with close to 98 per cent meeting the European Commission’s minimum water quality threshold in 2011.
414 coastal and freshwater bathing water sites were monitored across England in 2011. Results show that improvements have been maintained over the past decade. Measures taken to reduce and mitigate pollution from agricultural sources include the Catchment Sensitive Farming project and the establishment of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones, which cover approximately two-thirds of England. During the past two decades the water industry has invested £2 billion to improve bathing water quality and further spending of £220 million is planned between now and 2015.
During the 2011 bathing season there have been trials at 47 beaches in England into giving bathers information about discharges from Combined Sewer Overflows. This has been voluntary action on the part of water companies, local authorities and Surfers Against Sewage. This initiative has the support of the Cleaner Seas Forum, a Ministerial led initiative bringing together industry and environmental groups to look at how bathers can be kept better informed about water quality.
Posted 14/11/2011 14:04
Historical diving chambers moved to Gosport museum - 2/11/11
Two simulators which helped develop the science of deep sea diving have been moved to Gosport museum. The seven and 14 tonne diving chambers were previously used by the Royal Navy during and after World War II. One was used to train so-called "charioteers", navy divers who acted as human torpedoes attaching underwater bombs to enemy ships.
The chambers - named "100m" and "690m" - were used by the Royal Naval Physiological Laboratory at nearby Alverstoke to recreate the pressures experienced by the human body deep underwater. During World War II they were used to research the impact of oxygen poisoning which was experienced by the "charioteer" divers when they spent long periods of time underwater steering bombs to their target.
Posted 02/11/2011 09:32
Agreement over new Wightlink ferry terminal - 11/10/11
The New Forest's district council and park authority have withdrawn their objections to a proposed ferry terminal on the Hampshire coast. A public inquiry is considering whether Wightlink can upgrade its terminal in Lymington to accommodate larger ships. Opponents say the ships are harming habitats in the Lymington River.
The authorities withdrew their objections after the ferry company and Natural England agreed a way to mitigate the impact of the scheme.
Wightlink introduced three larger vessels to the Lymington to Yarmouth route in 2009 and they were allowed to continue operating despite a High Court ruling that their introduction had been unlawful. The Lymington River Association (LRA) argued that the bigger W class ferries created a greater wash and were damaging the Lymington River with its protected mudflats and salt marshes, which are rich in bird and marine life.
Earlier the inquiry at Lymington Town Hall heard that Wightlink had agreed with Natural England that material dredged from the river would be used to replenish Boiler Marsh, a natural habitat in Lymington Harbour. New Forest District Council and New Forest National Park Authority subsequently withdrew their objections to the scheme.
Posted 12/10/2011 11:02
Hayling Island sea wall rebuild - 10/10/11
People living near an eroded sea wall in Hampshire have welcomed the start of its long-awaited reconstruction. The £350,000 Environment Agency project will bolster the wall with limestone rock along a stretch of Hayling Island coast in Selsmore. Work is expected to be completed by the beginning of December. The finished structure will be an average of 11ft (3.5m) high.
Posted 10/10/2011 17:34
Bembridge Harbour up for sale - 26/9/11
Bembridge Harbour, the only sheltered natural harbour on the east coast of the Isle of Wight, has been put up for sale. Real estate advisers Vail Williams LLP is acting for the administrators, RSM Tenon.
Bembridge Harbour covers land and water space totalling over 150 acres. The property and business are for sale as a going concern, and will include the transfer of Statutory Harbour Authority Powers. The Harbour has 380 directly managed moorings in Bembridge Marina on three floating pontoons and on up to 108 buoyed trot moorings which are used during the summer season. The harbour pontoons maintain a minimum depth of at least one metre at low water and the harbour is accessible for about two and a half hours either side of high water.
Posted 27/09/2011 11:50
'Missing' D-Day ship wreck LCT 427 found in Solent - 19/9/11
Divers have discovered the "missing" wreck of a British ship which sank with all its crew in the Solent while returning from the D-Day landings. Landing craft LCT 427 was returning to Portsmouth in the early hours of 7 June 1944 having successfully delivered her cargo of tanks to Sword beach. Just four miles from shore it collided with battleship HMS Rodney and was sliced in half. All 12 crew were lost. Divers from Southsea Sub-Aqua Club have now located the two wreck pieces.
Posted 20/09/2011 10:29
Socio-economic study for Marine Planning Published - 13/9/11
The MMO has released its first commissioned study of socio-economic factors in marine planning. Marine planning aims to ensure a sustainable future for our coastal and offshore waters through integrating the many activities, resources and assets in our marine area.
The study, conducted independently, is a new resource that helps marine planners, developers, local authorities and others with an interest in sustainable development in the marine area to understand various issues affecting coastal communities. It takes a national snapshot of the socio-economic factors currently driving coastal communities in England, from planned developments to tourism, and then looks in more detail at the East of England, the area where the first two marine plans are currently being developed.
The information used to produce the study comes from a variety of sources, including local planning documentation and figures verified by the Office for National Statistics. See http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/marineplanning/se.htm.
Posted 13/09/2011 11:30
