From the Cornishman - Newlyn Harbour's commission on brink of collapse as trio are ousted

NEWLYN'S harbour commission is on the brink of collapse after a shock secret ballot saw three members dismissed.

Nick Howell, John Lambourn and Juliet Taylor were all kicked off the port authority on Tuesday afternoon in a last-minute vote that has been slammed as a breach of the commission's guidelines. Another member, Dave Munday, resigned yesterday in protest over the "grossly unfair" decision. With vice-chairman Ray Tovey leaving for a new post with Cornwall Council and Andrew Bell's post not filled, that leaves just six commissioners remaining on the board: chairman Gilbert McCabe; Mike Collier; Kevin Bennetts; Andrew Munson; Dave Stevens; and Elizabeth Stevenson.

Local representatives have called for the Department for Transport to step in and disband the commission after the drama unfolded right at the end of its first year. They have also called for the resignation of Mr McCabe – who has pledged transparency in the past – over the surprise ousting of three of its most dedicated members. "I cannot work with a commission that has been so discredited," said Mr Munday, who stepped down "with great sadness" on Wednesday. "I believe the board is completely undermined and has brought itself into disrepute. It should be dissolved and the DfT be asked to take over the management of the port until a new board can be appointed."

The commission caused controversy last August when it rejected funding for a new fish market in the port.
Fiona Thomas-Lambourn, a member of the commission's advisory body, said: "Do you really want Newlyn harbour to die on its feet and only have commissioners who (by their relation to the harbour) are forced to be 'yes people' and not free-thinking?" Nick Howell questioned whether the move to remove him, brought under Article 11 of the commission's rules, was valid. "It's a wrong way of conducting business and has a bad reflection on the Department for Transport," he said. "Article 11 states commissioners can only be asked to leave if they die, don't attend meetings or bring the commission into disrepute," he said. "They said we were not working together but that comes down to the chairman and he has to make us work together.
"A few of us have been saying for a while that we should be following the guide for good governance; we have been here for a year and we have not done it."

John Lambourn was disappointed the commission, which was set up in June 2010 after the previous authority was disbanded, looked set to crumble once more. "We were actually making progress and getting to the point where we were reaching some clear decisions," he said, adding that the trio were given the boot without any discussion. "I pleaded for a meeting to see where our differences were and if we could come to an agreement. "It looks like slipping back into the old slot, and where will hope be included in that slot?"

Juliet Taylor, who had been chairing the assets committee, said chairman Mr McCabe had to be accountable for what had happened. "It is not transparent and it is not constitutional," she said. "They gave no reason for what they did."

The remaining commissioners, included Mr McCabe, were not available for comment as The Cornishman went to press.

Courtesy of The Cornishman.