The UK trust port of Dover is convinced its application to be privatised will still be a success, despite new rules governing the sale of ports, ifw-net reports.
Yesterday, the UK government introduced new criteria that meant it would only approve the sale of a port if it was likely to “deliver an enduring and significant level of community participation”.
Transport Minister Theresa Villiers wrote to Dover Harbour Board (DHB) to ask if the authority wanted its privatisation application to remain the same or if it wanted to withdraw or amend it.
DHB said it had yet to respond and welcomed the revisions, adding that it was confident its scheme would be seen to meet the government’s criteria in all respects.
Chairman Roger Mountford said: “The government has recognised that benefits from privatisation should flow both to local communities and to the national economy.
“Our scheme will deliver community participation, investment and regeneration, and the ability to develop and expand port infrastructure, while maintaining the resilience of fundamental parts of our national infrastructure.”
The criteria allows for the community participation to take a variety of forms, but must include the ability to influence the port’s long-term development and may include the right to receive a share in the profits of the port, or the future increase in its value.
Opponents of the privatisation plan, who have set up a rival scheme, called the People’s Port Trust, which will see the port handed over the local community, had hoped the new criteria would make DHB’s plan redundant.
DHB’s privatisation plans envisage the establishment of a Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT), which would be given an immediate cash sum of £10 million (US$16.3m) and shares in the new company that would be set up to run the port.
The PDCT would be independently chaired and would be both representative, and for the benefit, of the local community and the long-term regeneration of the area, said the DHB.
The People’s Port Trust plan would see the port bought by the local community for around £200 million. It has the backing of major banks, port users, the town’s Conservative MP, Charlie Elphicke, and Dame Vera Lynn, who sang the iconic WW2 anthem White Cliffs of Dover.
Yesterday, the UK government introduced new criteria that meant it would only approve the sale of a port if it was likely to “deliver an enduring and significant level of community participation”.
Transport Minister Theresa Villiers wrote to Dover Harbour Board (DHB) to ask if the authority wanted its privatisation application to remain the same or if it wanted to withdraw or amend it.
DHB said it had yet to respond and welcomed the revisions, adding that it was confident its scheme would be seen to meet the government’s criteria in all respects.
Chairman Roger Mountford said: “The government has recognised that benefits from privatisation should flow both to local communities and to the national economy.
“Our scheme will deliver community participation, investment and regeneration, and the ability to develop and expand port infrastructure, while maintaining the resilience of fundamental parts of our national infrastructure.”
The criteria allows for the community participation to take a variety of forms, but must include the ability to influence the port’s long-term development and may include the right to receive a share in the profits of the port, or the future increase in its value.
Opponents of the privatisation plan, who have set up a rival scheme, called the People’s Port Trust, which will see the port handed over the local community, had hoped the new criteria would make DHB’s plan redundant.
DHB’s privatisation plans envisage the establishment of a Port of Dover Community Trust (PDCT), which would be given an immediate cash sum of £10 million (US$16.3m) and shares in the new company that would be set up to run the port.
The PDCT would be independently chaired and would be both representative, and for the benefit, of the local community and the long-term regeneration of the area, said the DHB.
The People’s Port Trust plan would see the port bought by the local community for around £200 million. It has the backing of major banks, port users, the town’s Conservative MP, Charlie Elphicke, and Dame Vera Lynn, who sang the iconic WW2 anthem White Cliffs of Dover.