Falklands : General Purposes Committee Brief (27/06/08)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.06.2008 (Article Archived on 14.07.2008)

A meeting of the General Purposes Committee was held at Gilbert House on Wednesday, 25 June 2008. On Friday, 27 June 2008 Cllr Summers briefed the Media about what happened at the meeting.

GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE BRIEF (27/06/08)

By J. Brock (FINN)

A meeting of the General Purposes Committee was held at Gilbert House on Wednesday, 25 June 2008.  On Friday, 27 June 2008 Cllr Summers briefed the Media about what happened at the meeting. 

The Agenda:

1. The visit of Rosanna Mesquita of the Commonwealth Foundation seeking information on human right in the UK Overseas Territories


2. Cllr Clausen’s absence due to pregnancy


3. Constitution Process


4. Application by HMG to have Ottawa Convention deadline for mine clearance extended


5. Fox Bay Village Jetty


6. Janet Robertson’s Report on C-24 Participation


7. The next MPs Vitis


8. Fuel Prices


9. Air-bridge


10. Partnering Contract with Morrison’s.

Rosanna Mesquita

This visit is funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office so Ms Mesquita can gather information on human rights capacity in all of the South Atlantic UK Overseas Territories.  Cllr Summers met her in London and said she doesn’t know what she is going to do here.  While her visit will not cost FIG any money, it will cost in people’s time.  Cllr Summers has recommended that she visit the Media Trust, the Attorney General and local NGOs.

Fuel prices

Councillors discussed the affect of higher fuel costs especially for domestic heating fuel.  While in London Cllr Summers went to a board meeting of Stanley Services Ltd.  Domestic and bunkering fuel are priced in accordance with a formula.  Each one of the board members were asked to go away and contemplate holding back any price increases for domestic and bunkering fuel.  Rob Granger and Derek Howatt will be looking into the elements of the formula and how fuel prices are calculated.  Hopefully they can propose something to SSL in due course.

Dates for the next visit of MPs

MPs have chosen to visit the Falklands around the end of November.  Sukey will organise the trip, possibly the week of 17 November.

Constitution

It is time to arrange consultative meetings in Fox Bay Village and Port Howard.  This will be organised around the first ferry trip.  Arrangements will be made for people to fly from the outer ialands.  Meetings will be held at Goose Green and hopefully Hope Cottage and in Stanley at the end of July.  The Constitution will be considered in a special Legco on 05 September when the final draft should be approved.  Cllr Summers says there has been no response to the press release sent out mid June.  However, a set of notes on what is in the new constitution will be circulated.

Air-bridge

Currently the draft Joint Position Statement (JPS) has been revised. A resolution of the tender process is needed.  A meeting at Strike Command will indicate who got the tender to provide the airframe and what kind it will be.  FIG should know the outcome of this meeting sometime in July and then will decide what price to charge for airfares.  If this is not workable or practical FIG will contact the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to see if appropriate changes can be made to the contract.  The new CBSAI, Air Commodore Gordon Moulds, prefers the return of the 747 airframe.

Fox Bay Jetty

This item is described as irritating as there is a desire to extend and widen the Jetty but FIG are only willing to repair it to the standard it to original specifications.  Hopefully this will be resolved shortly.

Ottawa Convention

The UK has applied for an extension to the time allowed for mines to be cleared in the Falkland Islands.  The Ottawa Treaty Committee are not happy with this application and want to review its contents.  Councillors discussed what might be the way to go as somebody had wrongly reported that Falkland Islanders did not want a lot of strangers in the Islands while de-mining was going on.  This part of the application was wrong.  Hopefully the Falkland Islands won’t be criticised for this.  Few people would object to the positive affect on the Economy if a large number of people came to help with de-mining.

A way forward might be to release large areas not thought to be mined.  Falkland Islanders didn’t ask for the mines to be laid in the first place, nor did they ask for them to be lifted.  Islanders don’t object to having people coming in to do the job.

Environmental concerns in coastal areas are significant but on peat, white grass and Diddle Dee it could be helpful for pasture improvement to have the mines dug up..

Partnering Contract With Morrisons

Cllr Summers said the Partnering Contract comes up occasionally.  The amount of work for Morrison’s is relatively small  and currently there is no contractual work for them to do as they were unsuccessful with the Mountain Top Contracts that would have kept them here for the next few years.

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