Decision demanded on port closure compensation

An urgent decision is needed on whether businesses hit by the closure of the UK's second busiest passenger port should be compensated, a Senedd committee has said.

Holyhead port was closed for more than a month in December by damage from Storm Darragh.

Anglesey council has called for financial help, with some businesses saying trade was down by 90%, leading to thousands of pounds worth of losses.

Members of the Senedd (MSs) on the economy committee criticised ministers for their "sluggish" response to the port closure, but the Welsh government said it "acted swiftly and effectively based on the information that was available to us".

"We need compensation," said Sian Tracey, who has owned The Haven Guest House in Holyhead since 2010.

"Everybody is saying the same thing.

"It's in the thousands of pounds that they've lost."

The B&B can accommodate 15 people, and sits 100 metres (328ft) from the port.

Mrs Tracey said the business lost "thousands of pounds" as a result of the closure.

"We had one cancellation after the other," she said.

"We should have been full up over Christmas. Instead of having seven rooms full every night we had two guests for the whole two week period."

She is "disappointed" that a decision has not been made about compensation and said that Stena Line should be held responsible.

"It's not just a storm, they haven't been maintaining the port as they should," she added.

"I do think they should have some accountability."

The two berths at the port on Anglesey, which links north Wales and Dublin, were damaged on 7 December, affecting thousands of travellers and parcel deliveries over Christmas, as well as businesses in the town.

One of the berths reopened on 15 January, allowing Stena Line, which owns the port, and Irish Ferries to both run their regular four daily services from a single berth.

The second is due to reopen in July.

Traders in Holyhead said they had seen a huge drop in footfall and earnings since the closure of the port, which sees two million passengers a year and 1,200 lorries and trailers crossing every day.

Howard Browes is the chairman of the Cybi Business forum which supports businesses in Holyhead.

He said footfall "was down 37% compared to the same period last year" as a result of the ports closure.

"We do rely on the Freeport of passengers and freight. Anything that is going to stop that footfall is going to have a significant impact," he said

Mr Browes said one hotel has lost "nearly £20,000 over the period" and added that businesses were getting frustrated about the lack of information regarding compensation.

"The politicians need to make a decision whether funding is going to be there and where it is going to come from," he said.

"All businesses want is to see is some recompense for the loss that they suffered."

In their report published on Thursday, MSs expressed dismay at the "lack of speed and urgency" in the Welsh government response to the closure and said they wanted ministers to conduct a "lessons learned review" so Holyhead was prepared and resilient in the future.

Conservative committee chair Andrew RT Davies said some local firms had reported losses of tens of thousands of pounds from the closure and said it was "clear that the Welsh government's response was not acceptable".

"We are very disappointed by the lack of speed and urgency in the Welsh government's response to the closure of a crucial European trade route," he said.

"It is local action and cooperation between ports that prevented Holyhead's closure from being even worse for Welsh trade and the wider economy."

Welsh ministers were "too slow to act and uncoordinated", Davies said, with "many people left in the dark because communications were not good enough - this must not happen again".

"Ports and freight are vital to our economy and the Welsh government has ignored these areas for too long," he said.

"We were promised new policies by last December but this has now been kicked into the long grass until next year - this is not good enough, we need action now."

The committee took evidence from Transport Secretary Ken Skates and Economy Secretary Rebecca Evans but it said it was "unclear" which minister was responsible for dealing with the crisis.

The report said "this confusion may have exacerbated problems with the response to this emergency".

For future incidents, the report called for a single "ministerial lead" to oversee and be held accountable for management of the response.

The committee said there was "a lack of urgency" in responding to requests for support from affected businesses with "a limited understanding" of how the closure was affecting local workers.

It said the Welsh government needed to "urgently decide" what financial and other support was available for those hit by any port closures.

The committee accused the Welsh government of showing a lack of attention to both ports and freight over recent years and expressed concerns about trade being diverted elsewhere.

The transport secretary has announced a "Welsh government-led multi-stakeholder taskforce to develop a new strategy for the future of Holyhead".

The committee said it would closely monitor this work.

Plaid Cymru leader and Ynys Môn Senedd member Rhun ap Iorwerth said the Welsh government has a "responsibility to step in and support those affected by the port's closure" but "the response has been far too slow".

"I immediately wrote to the cabinet secretary [Rebecca Evans] on the 16 December, calling for an assessment of the closure's impact on businesses, which was subsequently held in January," he said.

"Over two months have now passed since the survey closed, but businesses are still being made to wait.

"The Welsh government must support businesses that were hit hardest by the port's closure as a matter of urgency."

Very strongly. Unusually, it issued a statement criticising the Economy Committee.

It said it was "very disappointing" that it had "failed to seek clarification and detailed information about the efforts made to support freight and passenger movements prior to publishing their report".

"In conjunction with the private sector port operator and ferry companies, we acted swiftly and effectively based on the information that was available to us as the scale and impact of the incident evolved," the statement said.

"Our collective action helped manage the immediate impact of the closure and ensured that the impact on trade was mitigated wherever possible, which the report fails to acknowledge.

"We will provide a full response to the report in due course.

"The Irish Sea Taskforce, currently underway, will be invaluable in allowing us to reflect on the port's temporary closure in a more considered way, as well as ensuring we safeguard the future resilience of Irish Sea routes."