COWES HARBOUR COMMISSION STRATEGIC PLAN 2016-2021 June 2016 | Page 4

INTRODUCTION
We are pleased to introduce Cowes Harbour Commission’s (CHC) Strategic Plan for 2016 to 2021. This plan
aims to set out CHC’s positive vision for the future of Cowes Harbour, its development and management
for the next five years and beyond. The plan outlines the Commission’s strategic and guiding policies and
objectives together with timelines that will help deliver the plan and CHC’s vision for Cowes Harbour.
Cowes Harbour Commission is a Trust Port and is governed by an independent Board of ten Commissioners
made up of nine non-executive Commissioners and the Chief Executive/Harbour Master. The Board
collectively have responsibility for managing the harbour in accordance with our constitution and the
government’s guidelines for Trust Ports set down in their document, “Modernising Trust Ports Second
Edition - Guide to Good Governance”.
The principles set out in the Modernising Trust Ports guidance, together with CHC’s 5 year Strategic Plan,
are key in all decisions taken by the Commissioners on the management, development and investment
of CHC.
We thought it would be helpful to reiterate a couple of introductory paragraphs from the Modernising Trust
Ports document that set out the principles of Trust Port governance.
“Modernising Trust Ports described a trust port as ‘a valuable asset presently safeguarded by the existing
board, whose duty it is to hand it on in the same or better condition to succeeding generations. This
remains the ultimate responsibility of the board, and future generations remain the ultimate stakeholder’.
Through the running and maintenance of this asset, though, others stand to benefit. Although not an
exhaustive list, the following may all be considered stakeholders or ‘beneficiaries’ of a trust port:
n Port users
n The local community
n Local and regional economies and authorities
n Port employees
n Related interest groups
n Local and regional businesses
As stakeholders, or ‘beneficiaries’ in the port, the interests of these groups must at all times be the guide
by which trust port boards direct the port. There are bound to be conflicts of interest from time to time
between — and in some cases within — the various stakeholder groups. It is the duty of the boards, at all
times, to strike a balance that fully respects the interests of all stakeholders, not just one group, in the light
of objectives of the port, including commercial considerations, and what constitutes the ‘common good’
for all stakeholders (current and future) and the port itself.
In order for trust ports to fulfil that obligation, they must have a firm idea of what constitutes the objectives
of the port. It is the responsibility of the boards, having identified their stakeholders and consulted them,
to arrive at a clear description of these objectives.”
In developing this 5 year Strategic Plan, CHC has consulted all the key stakeholder groups and the
Harbour Advisory Committee and their input has been invaluable in producing this new Strategic Plan.

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