By Russ Jarvis

This meeting was held a day earlier than originally scheduled to allow Councillors time to discuss the FIG 2003/4 Budget on Thursday and Friday of this week. The Governor chaired the meeting but with his imminent departure to the UK to attend the Governor’s Conference, it was agreed that I could attend to make this broadcast.

The agenda was long and contained a number of interesting and important items. There was the usual batch of papers relating to individuals, or to commercial interest that are not published no discussed in this broadcast for obvious reasons. Equally, there were issues discussed that are of great importance to the Falkland Islands.

The first of these papers to be considered was the Fisheries Policy review. The outcome of this review will be of great significance to the Falkland Islands. And, as such, all Elected Members of the Legislature were invited to attend as well as the director of fisheries and the Economic Advisor as the main authors of the paper. There was support, in principle, for the move to a rights based system, and a recognition that more work was required to take this whole issue forward. Executive council agreed, in the meantime, that a paper should be drafted outlining the key elements for distribution and the full paper available on request. The Attorney General will begin looking at the legal changes required to implement the regime. In recognising the importance of this issue, and to give it the time it deserves, Executive Council decided to schedule a separate meeting to discuss this particular subject. The exact date will be discussed at the April Executive Council meeting. This also provides time for public comment and views from the FCO to be heard.

One issue that will be of interest to the majority of people in the Falkland Islands is the paper that discusses the proposals for a simplification of the Tax System. Executive Council agreed that the review paper could be published and distributed but made it clear that they did not necessarily agree with its content. Because taxation affects nearly all of us in one form or another, it is important that you make your views known, once you have seen the review paper.

There was a paper from the Director of Public Works raising some concern about the level of asbestos in the Islands. The scale of the problem is not known. And, there is a need to ensure, from a Health and Safety point of view that, if there is a problem, Government knows what it is. To achieve this, a specialist company would be contracted to undertake a survey, initially of Stanley, to identify problem areas and recommend remedial action.

Executive Council agreed with a recommendation that the proposed trial clear-way along Ross Road should proceed as advertised on 07 February 2003. The proposal is that, for a four-week trial, from Monday, 28 April to Friday, 23 May, a no parking restriction will apply from 0800 to 1700 Monday to Friday on Ross Road. Ross Road was defined as running between Reservoir Road and Philomel Street, excluding Crozier Place.

The proposal for a change in Post Office opening hours was put to Executive Council. The paper proposed that the Post Office opens from 0900 to 1300 and 1600 to 1700 on Monday to Friday and every Saturday from 0930 to 1200. Whilst it was felt that these were sensible, it was also agreed that these proposals should be put out for public consultation.

The last two items on the agenda were information papers from the Director of Education. One, with the Annual Summary Report of 2002, the second contained the inspection reports on the Infant/Junior School, the FICS and Camp Education. The standard continues to remain high in all areas.

(100X Transcription Service)