Statutory Harbour Board Accounts
Argyll and Bute Council · 20 March 2025
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL ARGYLL AND BUTE HARBOUR BOARD FINANCIAL SERVICES 20 MARCH 2025 STATUTORY HARBOUR BOARD ACCOUNTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 This report advises that annual statements will now be provided for each of the Council’s Statutory Harbour Authorities, upon completion of the Council Accounts. The Council’s Accounts for the year end 31 March 2024 were approved by Council on 20 December 2024 and annual statements are now provided in appendix 1 of this report. 2. RECOMMENDATIONS 2.1 It is recommended that the Argyll and Bute Harbour Board consider the information contained within this report and note that annual statements will be provided for each of the Council’s Statutory Harbour Authorities on completion of the audit of the Council Accounts. 3. DETAIL 3.1 Section 42 of the Harbours Act 1964 at paragraph (1) states the following: “It shall be the duty of every statutory harbour undertaker to prepare an annual statement of accounts relating to the harbour activities and to any associated activities carried out by him”. 3.2 The Council has previously included the statutory harbour income and expenditure within the overall Council Accounts, and now, developing on best practice, an annual statement of income and expenditure for each of the 8 Statutory Harbour Authorities will be provided to the Harbour Board upon completion of the audit of the Council Accounts. 3.3 Harbour assets are set out in the Council’s Accounts which contain information in relation to assets equivalent to a balance sheet. Further work will be undertaken to assess whether and how information may be more clearly set out in a balance sheet format in future. Pooling of Funds 3.4 It should be noted that the Council is the the harbour authority across 8 Harbours and has a duty to maintain its marine infrastructure throughout the Argyll and Bute Council footprint irrespective of the individual location’s ability to raise income. The cost of maintaining marine infrastructure is significant, especially so at remote or island locations. 3.5 Large scale or expensive works need to be paid for often within short timescales with available funds and borrowing, which is paid back through fees and charges.
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To allow this to be done without short term spikes and to better suit budget planning, it is sensible to pool the resources and the expenses of the marine portfolio together. 3.6 The Council approved the Council’s Audited Accounts on 20 December 2024. Appendix 1 provides an annual statement for each of the 8 Statutory Harbour Authorities for the year ended 31 March 2024. There is an overall surplus of £810,634 when added together. 3.7 The total income and expenditure for all other piers and harbours totals a deficit of £426,879. This together with the surplus outlined in paragraph 3.5 results in an overall surplus for all piers and harbours for the year ended 31 March 2024 of £383,756. 3.8 Looking back at the accounts over the last 4 years, there is an overall deficit and therefore the pooled surplus generated in 2023-24 will be paying back previous years cumulative deficits. Where the cumulative total moves into a surplus, this will be ring-fenced at the end of the financial year for future years spending on piers and harbours. Year Surplus/(Deficit) £m 2020-21 (1.142) 2021-22 (0.295) 2022-23 0.318 2023-24 0.384 Total (last 4 years) (0.735) Consolidated HRO 3.9 It has been the reported intention of Argyll and Bute Council to consolidate its main ports and harbours under one Statutory Harbour Authority Order. CMAL and Cornwall Council are two examples of a Statutory Harbour Authority with multiple ports and harbours consolidating some or all their harbour areas under one single Statutory Harbour Authority order. The single legislation means that among other important aspects, the Authority can then account across the entire undertaking as one entity. 3.10 The benefits are similar to the pooling of resources in that an Authority can better cover planned and unexpected works that are invariably expensive without that burden being borne by a single location. Argyll and Bute Council intend to pursue this on completion of the ongoing Oban HRO process. 4. CONCLUSION 4.1 An annual statement for the year ended 31 March 2024 is now provided for each of the Council’s Statutory Harbour Authorities. Harbour assets are set out in the Council’s annual accounts which contain information in relation to assets equivalent to a balance sheet.
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5. IMPLICATIONS 5.1 Policy – Reporting on income and expenditure for the Statutory Harbour Authorities. 5.2 Financial – Information on income and expenditure is provided for each of the Council’s Statutory Harbour Authorities. 5.3 Legal – None. 5.4 HR – None. 5.5 Fairer Scotland Duty – See Below 5.5.1 Equalities – None. 5.5.2 Socio-Economic Duty – None. 5.5.3 Islands Duty – None. 5.6 Climate Change – None. 5.7 Risk – None. 5.8 Customer Service – Provision of further information included in the overall Accounts of the Council. 5.9 The Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – None. Kirsty Flanagan Executive Director/Section 95 Officer 11 March 2025 Councillor Ross Moreland, Policy Lead for Finance and Commercial Services Appendices Appendix 1 – Income and Expenditure Statement
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APPENDIX 1 STATUTORY HARBOUR AUTHORITY INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 Bruichladdich 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 51,341 Other Income 0 51,341 Expenditure Employee Costs 0 Other Operating Expenditure 13,241 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 67,459 Financing Costs 10,915 91,615 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure (40,274) Carradale 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 22,330 Other Income 100 22,430 Expenditure Employee Costs 0 Other Operating Expenditure 12,949 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 20,508 Financing Costs 2,251 35,708 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure (13,278)
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Campbeltown 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 360,043 Other Income 2,168 362,211 Expenditure Employee Costs 211,421 Other Operating Expenditure 199,192 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 340,931 Financing Costs 45,217 796,761 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure (434,550) Craignure 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 1,906,346 Other Income 0 1,906,346 Expenditure Employee Costs 44,246 Other Operating Expenditure 228,678 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 11,051 Financing Costs 357,392 641,367 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure 1,264,979 Dunoon 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 296,648 Other Income 0 296,648 Expenditure Employee Costs 421,503 Other Operating Expenditure 160,511 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 202,413 Financing Costs 93,840 878,267 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure (581,618)
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Oban 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 448,477 Other Income 3,106 451,583 Expenditure Employee Costs 213,468 Other Operating Expenditure 245,554 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 247,518 Financing Costs 67,131 773,671 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure (322,088) Port Askaig 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 863,684 Other Income 0 863,684 Expenditure Employee Costs 37,083 Other Operating Expenditure 219,972 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 352,606 Financing Costs 151,078 760,739 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure 102,945 Rothesay 2023-24 £ £ Income Operating Income 2,728,267 Other Income 0 2,728,267 Expenditure Employee Costs 671,444 Other Operating Expenditure 321,051 Depreciation / Revaluation Adjustments 388,324 Financing Costs 512,929 1,893,748 Surplus/(Deficit) of income over expenditure 834,519
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ACCOUNTING POLICIES Accounting Convention The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. Income Income represents fees and charges for use of the Council's Pier and Harbours. Expenditure All expenditure is included on an accruals basis and is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to pay for expenditure. All expenditure has been directly attributed to one of the functional categories of resources expended in the accounts. Wages and Salaries Provision is made in the accounts for wages and salaries paid by Argyll and Bute Council for the running of the Piers and Harbours.