CONSULTATION ON THE REVISION OF GUIDANCE AND MODEL BYELAWS FOR SEASIDE PLEASURE BOATS PROVIDED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES IN ENGLAND TO ASSIST IN THEIR PREPARATION OF PROPOSED BYELAWS FOR CONFIRMATION BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR TRANSPORT
Consultation Letter
1 September 2010
Dear Consultee,
Section 76 Public Health Act 1961 ( as amended ) : Revised Guidance and Model byelaws
I am writing to invite you to comment on a set of draft guidance and advice which significantly amends the MCA’s policy and treatment of coastal byelaw application with regard to pleasure boats (including personal watercraft).
This consultation is aimed at Local Authority Legal Services and Foreshore Management administrators who are practitioners in the preparation and use of coastal byelaws.
The consultation will run from 1 September to 24 November and has been published on the MCA’s website at http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/shipsandcargoes/consultations/mcga-currentconsultations.htm
Introduction
The Guidance and Model Byelaws which assist Local Authorities in England to prepare pleasure boat Byelaws for confirmation by the Secretary of State for Transport have been revised to allow for a more flexible approach in the model, They show how an Authority may, for example, apply the speed byelaw to a particular description of pleasure boats, provided, as the Guidance makes clear, such an approach is justifiable. The new text aims to address some Local Authority concerns about an apparent lack of differentiation in application between various categories of pleasure craft.
To underpin this approach, a new Pro-forma has been designed to bring out the reasoning and justification for a draft Byelaws application. This seeks to provide clear evidence of which pleasure boats are creating the danger and thereby speed up the process and minimise the need for the MCA to revert to the Local Authority for additional information ahead of provisional approval to consult.
Please see the following documents:
1. Click Here ( 32.0KB) to download a draft of the proposed revised Guidance;
2. Click Here ( 20.0KB) to download a draft Model Byelaws document;
3. Click Here ( 20.0KB) to download a new covering Pro-Forma for submitting proposed Byelaws.
4. Click Here ( 16.0KB) to download a list of consultees
Main areas of revision
In particular, the revisions in the documentation are designed to:
a. allow greater flexibility to apply Byelaws to sub categories of craft, such as different types of pleasure craft, which previously may have been dealt with using a “one size fits all” approach. Where it can be demonstrate they pose no risk to safety, this approach could result in exempting sailing vessels and sailboards for the byelaws 6 - 8 knot speed limit for example ;
b. provide more scope for applying Byelaws to specific areas within the Local Authorities area of jurisdiction, to target the problem areas;
c. provide more flexibility to apply certain aspects of the byelaws in certain geographical areas, in order to achieve a proportionate approach to the local issues;
d. put greater emphasis on the Local Authority’s justification of the measures contained in proposed Byelaws, by means of a covering pro-forma to be submitted with applications for confirmation of draft Byelaws. This will help to establish whether the proposed measures are those which are necessary to address to issues in a particular locality, but no more than that which is necessary; and thus aid the MCA’s consideration.
Your views are therefore welcomed on the draft documents in general, but in particular whether the approach taken on the matters in (a) to (d) above are practical, workable and enforceable. Also, that the draft covering pro-forma is fit for purpose.
Duration of Consultation
This Consultation will run from 1September 2010 until 24 November 2010. Comments should arrive no later than this date.
Comments on the Consultation
Comments on the subject matter of the consultation should be passed to:
Mr Alex Steele
Survey Branch
Byelaws Section
Bay 2/22, Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG
Tel: 023 8032 9133
e-mail: alex.steele@mcga.gov.uk
The MCA has endeavoured, as far as possible and appropriate, to comply with the principles of the Prime Minister’s Code of Practice on Consultation (see Annex A). Comments on the conduct of the Consultation, including the level of compliance with the Code of Practice, should be passed to the MCA’s Consultation Co-ordinator. A feedback form may be downloaded here in Word Format () or here in Adobe PDF format () which you may use for this purpose.
Comments, Responses and Privacy
Responses on this Consultation will be published on the MCA website:
http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga07-home/shipsandcargoes/consultations.htm
Names of Consultees supplying the comments will be omitted only if requested. However, although the MCA will make every reasonable effort to comply with any request from Consultees for their comments to be kept private and anonymous, information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).
If you want information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA 2000, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence.
In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.
The Department will process your personal data in accordance with the DPA 1988 and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.
Annex A
THE SEVEN CONSULTATION CRITERIA
The MCA has endeavoured to apply the principles outlined in the Prime Minister’s Code of Practice for Consultation: The headline criteria contained in the Code of Practice are as follows:
1.When to consult: Formal consultation should take place at a stage when there is scope to influence the policy outcome.
2.Duration of consultation exercises: Consultations should normally last for at least 12 weeks with consideration given to longer timescales where feasible and sensible.
3.Clarity of scope and impact: Consultation documents should be clear about the consultation process, what is being proposed, the scope to influence and the expected costs and benefits of the proposals.
4.Accessibility of consultation exercises: Consultation exercises should be designed to be accessible to, and clearly targeted at, those people the exercise is intended to reach.
5.The burden of consultation: Keeping the burden of consultation to a minimum is essential if consultations are to be effective and if consultees’ buy-in to the process is to be obtained.
6.Responsiveness of consultation exercises: Consultation responses should be analysed carefully and clear feedback should be provided to participants following the consultation.
7.Capacity to consult: Officials running consultations should seek guidance in how to run an effective consultation exercise and share what they have learned from the experience.
Should you have any comment on the compliance or otherwise of the MCA with these criteria, or about any aspect of the conduct of the Consultation, please contact the MCA’s Consultation Co-ordinator, at:
Consultation Co-ordinator,
Office of the Chief Executive,
Maritime and Coastguard Agency,
Spring Place, Bay 3/26,
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG
Or e-mail it to: consultation.coordinator@mcga.gov.uk
Please bear in mind that the Consultation Co-ordinator will not be able to consider comments on the subject matter of the Consultation. These should be addressed to Alex Steele as outlined above.
A feedback form may be downloaded here ( 16.0KB) which you may use for this purpose.