16 July 2010
Shoreham Port's annual public meeting was held at Southwick Barn Theatre this week with 80 people in attendance.
Dennis Scard, Chairman of the Board introduced Rodney Lunn Chief Executive who made a presentation on the history and future development of the port. He went through the proposals in the recently published port masterplan and went on to report on how well the Port had performed throughout 2009 and early part of 2010. He also reported on findings from the review required by the Government on the possible privatisation of the major trust ports like Shoreham. The Port Board are firmly against privatising the port and wish to remain a trust port for the benefit of the local community, and confirmed that they will continue with the existing strategy on commercialisation.
Questions were asked about slipways, and public access to Southwick Beach to which Mr Lunn said that 'we will improve access across the locks but must maintain safety. There were other questions and comments about the new Parker Steel development expected later this year and also on the possible renewable energy plant by Edgeley Power using waste oil. Mr Lunn explained that the Parker development will create up to 280 jobs for local people and the Edgeley proposal would import the oil by ship and not create any road traffic or air pollution.
Rodney Lunn made a final comment that "the Port is doing well despite the current economic situation and has a very bright future".
