A NEW member has been invited to join the board of an Isle of Wight harbour commission.

Simon Treherne has been invited to join the Board of Cowes Harbour Commission (CHC), following the announcement of the departure of Jamie Clark who will be standing down as a Commissioner at the end of May after completion of his second term of office.

Simon is an experienced corporate solicitor who has worked across many industry sectors, including marina development and yacht manufacturing. The Commission will benefit from Simon's experience of working on several large infrastructure projects, which will undoubtedly strengthen its ability to deliver the proposed Cowes Outer Harbour Breakwater, as well as his impressive record as a board member and partner of Blake Lapthorn, one of the UK's leading law firms.

Following the news of his appointment as a Commissioner for CHC, Simon commented: “Cowes Harbour is one of the jewels of the Island, with Cowes’ yachting heritage giving the Island a worldwide reputation. I believe that the development of Cowes Harbour represents one of the ‘big bets’ for the Island as both an opportunity to further enhance the profile of Cowes in the yachting world and an opportunity to bring business and jobs to the Island.”

Simon and his wife have two children and decided to make the Isle of Wight their home seven years ago when they moved to Horringford, near Arreton: “The Island is a wonderful place to live with a family if you have money or a job, but the Island is desperately short of job opportunities,” continued Simon. “We need projects like the Cowes Breakwater Project to succeed not only to benefit Cowes Harbour and its existing users but also to benefit the wider community by encouraging the development of the harbour, making the harbour more attractive to business and the creation of new jobs."

This Commissioner appointment was made from a strong short-list of five candidates following a new and more open selection process. The panel included both a stakeholder representative from the CHC Advisory Committee and an external independent, and had a majority of non-CHC members.

Chairman of Cowes Harbour Commission, Roger Mathias said: “I’m delighted to welcome Simon to the CHC Board and look forward to working with him. With his broad commercial experience, both as a lawyer and as a board member running his own firm, he will be a great asset to the Commission and to Cowes.”

Roger added: “I would also like to express my thanks to Jamie Clark for his highly valued contribution over the last six years as Commissioner.”

The new Commissioner will be introduced to the Board at their June meeting.