Port Health Authority: Structure and Functions

The Port Health Authority is a stand-alone local Authority, ascribed to undertake certain functions on behalf of other local Authorities, known as the Riparian Authorities to the Port Health Authority.

The legislation which covers these functions is contained with the Manchester Port Health Authority Order 1977, as amended by the Local Government (Structural Changes) (Miscellaneous Amendments and other Provisions) Order 2009.

The Origins of Manchester Port Health Authority

The Port Health Authority was created at the dawn of local government in England. With the building of the in 1894, and the creation of a customs Port for the Port of Manchester there was a need to create a Port Sanitary Authority for the customs district.

The Manchester Ship Canal is unique in complying with these requirements. Normally ports are single entities involving one local Authority, or they may be a joint board within a river, bay or estuary, made up of a number of local authorities, thereby making a joint board Port Health Authority.

The Manchester Ship Canal, being man made, passes through a number of local authorities in its 37 mile journey from Eastham in the Wirral, to the steps opposite Manchester Cathedral on the river Irwell in Manchester.

Port Health Authority interpretation of the Port Health Order

1. Therefore for the purposes of the Act, meaning the Public Health Act 1936, the Port of Manchester shall be a port health district and a joint board shall be the Port Health Authority for that district.

2. The joint board shall be called the Manchester Port Health Authority.

3. The joint board shall consist of 14 members of whom the number shown against the name of the Riparian Authority specified below shall be appointed to the board by that Authority from the members of the council, that is to say:-

Manchester City Council 4 members Salford City Council 4 members Borough Council 1 member Warrington Borough Council 1 member Halton Borough Council 1 member Cheshire West & Chester Council 2 members Wirral Borough Council 1 member 1

Jurisdiction of the Port Health Authority

The joint board shall have jurisdiction as port health authority-

a. over all the waters with the Port of Manchester, together with the water of the River Weaver and the Weaver Navigation as far inland as Winsford Bridge

b. the whole of the district of a riparian authority in as far as it is included with the Port of Manchester, together with such other ports of the district of a specified riparian authority as companies the whole of any wharf and of the area with the gates of any dock and the buildings thereon respectively and which abuts on or is adjacent to the waters specified in sub-paragraph (a) above.

Functions assigned to the Joint Board

According to the Port Health Order, the functions assigned to the joint board, closely mirror those rights and liabilities of a local authority under the enactments specified, so far as they are applicable to a port health authority and to any lands, waters, premises, vessels or persons within their jurisdiction.

For the purposes of the functions, rights and liabilities assigned to the joint board by the Port Health Order; the enactments shall have effect as if:

a. any vessel lying within their jurisdiction were a house, building or premises and

b. the master or other officer or person in charge of the vessel were the occupier

Expenses of the Joint Board

The riparian authorities shall contribute towards any expenses incurred or to be incurred by the joint board by virtue of the authority conferred upon then by the port health order in the following proportions:

Manchester City Council Four fourteenths Salford City Council Four fourteenths Cheshire West & Chester Council Two fourteenths Trafford Borough Council One fourteenth Halton Borough Council One fourteenth Warrington Borough Council One fourteenth

This year 2016-2017, the costs per share shall be £16,687.21. Therefore for Salford City Council, with four shares, this amounts to £66,748.84.

A more thorough explanation of the operations and expenditure of Manchester Port Health Authority is contained within the Service Delivery Plan 2016-2017, which is available from Manchester Port Health Authority on request at: [email protected]

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Port Health in Salford

There are a number of wharves within the boundaries of the . Ships can still arrive and discharge at Salford Quays and Manchester Dry Docks.

Travelling westwards, there is the cement cargo at Weaste Tarmac Terminal on Pacific Way. Across the canal at Cargills, there is a seasonal traffic with imported wheat and maize. On the opposite bank in Eccles is EMR (European Metal Recycling) recycling who export steel to Europe; we then arrive at the potential site of Port Salford.

Port Salford is well documented with the City of Salford. The potential and benefit to the city and region cannot be underestimated and every assistance to drive this project forward should be encouraged.

Port Salford is a £138 million project with planning permission to develop the UK’s fist Tri-Model (served by road, rail and short-sea shipping) inland port facility and distribution park on the Barton Strategic Site adjacent to the Manchester Ship Canal.

Port Salford will provide a Central North West distribution base to improve supply chains for businesses across the North West. It will enable direct barge access to the river terminal at the Port of Liverpool and will reduce the environmental impact of the terminals’ expansion by reducing freight levels on road.

The project is a stand-alone creation of a logistics hub in its own right, with new rail connections from the Manchester – Liverpool line, to allow containers from the ports in the South of England to be relocated and despatched throughout the North West and on to Scotland.

The short sea route from Seaforth with the development of a project known as ‘L2’ will see large container vessels discharging at Seaforth. The cargoes will be transhipped onto ferry feeder vessels and purpose built barges for delivery at Port Salford, for final despatch and delivery by a number of logistic companies.

For further information please see: http://www.peel.co.uk/projects/port-salford

In addition to Phase One of Port Salford, currently there is a possibility of Phase Two on land to the North of the A57 – this land surrounds the airport and extends as far as the M60 motorway. This would provide an additional capacity for Port Salford of 350,000 sq metres of warehousing, logistics and processing facilities on top of the 150,000 sq metres of warehousing and processing floor space available in Phase One.

For further information please see: http://peellogistics.co.uk/sites/port-salford-phase-2

Where does Port Health fit into these projects?

In the introduction, it was explained through the Port Health Order, that many of the functions of a local authority are ascribed to the Port Health Authority.

One of the crucial areas of work will be involved with imported food. It is intended to bring Products of Animal Origin (POAO) into Port Salford. Imports are controlled through a system of checks aimed at making sure that the products meet community standards in terms of animal and public health.

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The system of checks is currently referred to as the veterinary checks regime. Checks are carried out at Border Inspection Posts (BIPs), designated points of entry into the community.

In the UK, Port Health Authorities operate the BIPs approved for the import of POAO. A port can only be designated as a BIP if it meets the approval requirements laid down in commission decision 2001/812/EC and has been inspected by officers from the European Commission and local UK officers from the Animal and Plant Health Authority.

Peel Ports have indicated to the Port Health Authority that they wish to construct a BIP at Port Salford. This will enable POAO to be landed there via direct short sea shipping, or transhipping from L2 at Seaforth to be customs cleared and Port Health cleared at Port Salford.

There are tremendous benefits in doing this for the customer, Peel Ports and Port Salford. Not least in the speed in which the goods can be inspected, released and cleared, together with the revenue that can be expected from this process.

Potential Port Health Revenue from Port Salford

As a technical exercise, during 2015 staff at the Port Health Authority successfully tracked cargoes travelling down the Manchester Ship Canal to Irlam. From Irlam, these cargoes are then sent to distribution centres in the Salford and areas.

One of the cargoes earmarked for Port Salford is canned fish. Charges for inspecting fish cargoes are chargeable at £7.11 per ton or part ton. Containers of tuna or meat can be between 20 - 23 tonnes. Therefore this equals a potential income of £1,652.07 per ship. If we maintain the current arrivals at three per week, that works out at £4,953 per week. Multiply by 52 weeks: £257,713.56 per annum.

These figures are for an existing customer using this service. There are a number of other operators who wish to take advantage of this new service at Port Salford; therefore it is not unreasonable to expect revenue from this operation to be in excess of £1 million per annum within a very short timescale.

Conclusions

It is very important that this project succeeds and Manchester Port Health Authority undertake this work on behalf of the City of Salford and the region.

The cost of providing a BIP is the responsibility of the operator, i.e. Peel Ports. The Port Health Authority Officers will need to undertake training to enable them to satisfy the UK and EU authorities of their capabilities. This training has already started and will gather momentum in the months ahead.

In time, there will be a need to increase the Port Health staffing at Port Salford. An office will be provided within the construction regime and the Port Health Authority already know the nature of the cargo expected. This has been taken into the general scheme to enable Port Health to be ready to meet the challenge.

Recommendations

Port Health Officers are already working with Peel Ports to gather information and give appropriate advice on the developments at Port Salford. It is important that the City of Salford give support at the highest level, so that every opportunity is taken to facilitate success for Salford in this project.

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Port Health: The nature of the work

Port Health work requires highly trained Environmental Health professionals to provide a wide range of services to meet the growing needs of the local community and the international shipping trade.

Below is a brief resume of some of the current and emerging functions and services provided by Port Health, and the links developed with other agencies to fulfil those requirements

International control of Infectious Diseases

Ship Inspections Enhanced standards in ship inspections including;  Routine Legionella sampling  Water System (Legionella) safety information and guidance in English, Russian and Spanish  Food safety information and guidance in many different language  Enhanced Officer knowledge and understanding

Control of Disease Vectors in Ports  WHO’s ‘International Health Regulations’ Annex 5, Para 4. (Vector surveillance in Ports and Airports)  North West Zoonoses Group (NWZG) - Conference  Public Health Research Unit into Emerging and Zoonotic Infections (MPHA Officer Member of Scientific Advisory Board and Public Engagement Panel)  Instrumental in setting up of the ‘Ports Invasive Mosquito Surveillance’ Group (PIMS) with PHE and Edge Hill University specialist entomologists  Instrumental in setting up the National Pest Advisory Panel Specialist Working Group (Cabinet Office/Killgerm/PHE)

Pest Control Service  Fully trained and equipped Pest Control officer, offering an ‘in-house’ service to business within the port estate

Legionella on Merchant Vessels  Risk assessed sampling of visiting ships with advice/guidance and support  Major national research project with PHE specialist  Specialist advice sought by media

Port and Seafarer Welfare  Abandoned Vessels – multi agency group Chaired by MPHA Officer  Port Information Leaflets – Compiled by MPHA Officer

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Local Services

Local Authority Pollution Prevention and Control (LAPPC)  Provision and enforcement of ‘Part B’ Permits to business under the LAPC regime

Air Quality  Dust Nuisance from Cargo Handling  Odour Nuisance from Cargo Handling  Halton Air Quality Forum  Ellesmere Port Air Quality Forum

Regional Work

Northern Ports Liaison Network (NPLaN)  Organised and Chaired by MPHA Officers  Open to all PHOs in North of England  Covered subjects such as :  Achieving Excellence in Ship Sanitation;  Emerging risks and Food Fraud;  The Management of Ship’s Water Systems;  Vectors in Ports;  Managing Airport Health Issues and Concerns;  Shellfish and Food Fraud;  Public Health England and Port Health;  Food Fraud for frontline staff from a public analyst perspective;  Students resources and requirements

Student training opportunities  11 students over the past three years

Emerging/Future Work

Imported Food Control  Preparation and training for the forthcoming BIP at Port Salford

National Food Crime Unit fact-finding visit to the North West  MPHA Officer invited to represent North West Ports and APHA.

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