Harbour Authorities are created by statute to serve a public interest and their main role is to administer the ports and coastal waters within their jurisdiction. As a general rule where a harbour authority exists there is a public right of navigation in harbour waters and a public right to use the harbour for the shipping and unshipping of goods and passengers.

Harbour authorities have duties to ensure the safety of waters within their jurisdiction and every harbour authority is given general and specific statutory powers to enable it to discharge these duties. Some harbour authorities are managed under powers conferred by local legislation, which is specific to each harbour authority and may vary between them. Partly this is a matter of history; harbours have acquired their present forms of constitution by a number of routes, but a harbour authority’s powers also reflect local circumstances and the level and nature of harbour activities.

The constitution, powers and duties of harbour authorities is a complex subject and a full analysis is beyond the scope of this guide.

General Environmental duties

Harbour authorities have a general duty to exercise their functions with regard to nature conservation and other environmental considerations. The Transport and Works Act 1992 Schedule 3 imposes or confers on the harbour authority environmental duties or powers, including powers to make byelaws, for the conservation of the natural beauty of all or any part of the harbour. Harbour authorities must have regard for the conservation of flora, fauna and geological or physiographical features of special interest.

Byelaw Powers

Harbour authorities are empowered to make byelaws, which empower them to regulate activities for specific purposes. When creating byelaws, for example to make access to the harbour subject to conditions or charges, harbour authorities should consider their specific powers in relation to the making of bylaws. Byelaws are generally available to regulate rather than prohibit, and are a means of reflecting the local needs and circumstances of an individual harbour authority.

Harbour byelaws are the authority’s main tool for management of the harbour. Some Harbour’s powers, including those to make byelaws, still derive from the Harbours, Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847. In recent years more modern powers, generally following a common pattern, have tended to replace these old fashioned provisions.

A typical modern power is that contained in the Medway Ports Act 1973, which states that the authority may make byelaws, amongst other purposes:

• ‘for regulating the use of yachts, sailing boats, pleasure craft and other small craft… and
• ‘for regulating the launching of vessels within the port’

As subsidiary legislation, byelaws require confirmation by the relevant Government Department, which for harbours is the Department for Transport, who have responsibility with respect to shipping, harbours, pollution from ships and offshore safety. The process of making byelaws can be slow, although Government are looking at ways to speed up the process. Despite the availability of various ‘model’ byelaws, the drafting, submission and confirmation process is less than straightforward.

Typical byelaws relevant to PW use include:

• Vessels to navigate with care:
  The master shall navigate his vessels with such care and caution, and at such speed and in such manner, as not to endanger the lives of or cause injury to persons or damage to property, and as not to interfere with the navigation, loading or discharging of vessels or with moorings, river banks or other property.
• Speed of vessels:
  except with the permission of the harbour master, and subject to Collision Avoidance Regulations, the master of a vessels shall not cause or permit the vessels to proceed at a speed greater than [ ] knots.
• Small vessels not to obstruct fairway

The Standard work on harbour law, Douglas and Green, also offers a model byelaw for ‘jet-craft’. The term jet craft would require careful definition to distinguish PWs from other jet powered craft:

‘No person shall operate or cause to be operated a jet craft except with the written permission of the Authority given either specifically or generally and only (in such areas as) may be designated by the Authority and in accordance with such reasonable conditions as the Authority may impose’.

Such a byelaw is a benefit to avoid the risk to the safety of other vessels and to direct personal watercraft to an area so that the noise issues do not create a nuisance to other users. However it is unreasonable to prohibit the movement of those PWs whose riders wish to use the harbour in the same way as other vessels ie to go to and from the open sea, while observing the speed limit.

The flexibility of byelaws means that the confirming Department will consider the need for byelaws in the light of circumstances of that particular harbour and byelaws can be adapted to suit the needs of the Authority and users.