Purpose

A report was presented to
Cabinet to update on the Port of Ramsgate Future Delivery Project
and to propose recommendations on next steps.
 
The objectives of the project
are to end the revenue deficit position at the port and deliver a
sustainable long-term solution that removes financial and legal
risk. The solution must also avoid local financial contribution to
any capital costs.
 
This follows the decision of
Cabinet on 26 June 2025, not to implement a previous decision to
progress a plan for a Multi Purpose Hybrid model of operation for
the Port.
 
Since June 2025 officers have
scoped ten high level options for the future of the port. The
report updates on the option scoping work and proposes that six of
the options be discounted and that further work be done to develop
the remaining four options. The report also proposes that a Harbour
Revision Order process be commenced without delay and that short
term income opportunities be further explored and
implemented.

Decision

Cabinet agreed the following:
 
1. 
To approve the proposal to prepare and submit a Harbour Revision
Order (HRO) to remove the Open Port Duty associated with the ro-ro
(roll-on roll-off) berths and associated land at the Port of
Ramsgate as set out in Section 6 of the Cabinet report. A working
draft of the HRO and an accompanying draft Port Plan can be found
at Appendix 4 and Appendix 5 of this report;
 
2. 
To give delegated authority to the Director of Environment to
refine and complete the drafting of a Harbour Revision Order (HRO)
and the accompanying Port Plan (based on the drafts appended to
this report) and to submit the HRO application to the Marine
Management Organisation early in 2026 to formally commence the
harbour revision order process;
 
3. 
To approve the proposal to pursue and secure short term income
opportunities (circa 1-4 years) as described in Section 7;
 
4. 
To approve the proposal to discount six of the High Level Options, (those being options 2a, 2b, 3,
4a, 4b and 4c) from Table 1 in Appendix 1 to the Cabinet
report;
 
5. 
To approve the proposal for officers to develop leasehold or
freehold disposal options (Options 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d) further for
consideration at a future meeting of Cabinet;
 
6. 
With respect to the future of the Royal Harbour, Cabinet instructed
officers not to consider the Royal Harbour as part of any
future disposal options.

Reasons for the decision

Securing a sustainable solution for the Port
of Ramsgate is a corporate priority. The port has some significant
potential but is currently underutilised and operating at a
financial deficit. A Cabinet decision was made on 26 June 2025 to
move away from the previously approved concession operator model
for the port. Since then officers have
explored options for the future of the port and made a total of 6
recommendations in the report to Cabinet on 18 December 2025 that
are well aligned with the objectives of the Port of Ramsgate Future
Delivery Project. The decisions by Cabinet on these recommendations
will provide direction to the next stage of the project.

Alternative options considered

The report includes two alternatives as
follows:
 
Alternative 1 - Progress a different set of
future options for the port from the 4 recommended options. All of
the discarded options would present higher financial, legal,
commercial or programme related risk.  The discounted options
are all less well aligned with the project objectives and therefore
won’t be taken forward.
 
Alternative 2 - The report proposes that a
Harbour Revision Order process should commence early in 2026.
However this process could be delayed to allow more time to
understand disposal options. This approach would mean that the
council would be exposed to the risk associated with non-compliance
with the Open Port Duty for longer. The option was therefore
discounted.