Falklands : Falkland Islands Development Board Meeting Report (07/07/06)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 10.07.2006 (Article Archived on 24.07.2006)
Find out what happened during this important board meeting.
FALKLAND ISLANDS DEVELOPMENT BOARD MEETING REPORT (07/06/06)
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Falkland Islands Development Board took place at 1330hrs in the Function Room of the Chamber of Commerce. Present at the meeting were Cllr. Andrea Clausen (Chair), Cllr. Richard Davies, Cllr. Ian Hansen. Julian Morris, General Manager of FIDC, Ms Sue Gyford, Secretary, Mr. Derek Howatt, Non Voting Member, Mrs Jeanie Morton, Financial Controller, Mr Ron Binnie, Rural Business Association, Mr Roger Spink, FI Chamber of Commerce, and Mr Stuart Wallace, Vessel Owners Association. Apologies came from Mr. Keith Padgett and Mr Chris Simpkins.
After declarations of interest, the minutes of the meeting held on 06 June 2006 were confirmed. Matters arising included a £19,000.00 discrepancy between what was reported in an SFC paper and what had been reported in papers before the Board. Roger Spink said that the full figures needed to be before the board so they can be debated and considered.
It has been confirmed that David Lambert will come to the Falklands for Farmers Week and EXCO has approved the Rural Energy Scheme.
£15,000.00 of funding allocated to FIDC but used on the Tamar will be replaced. Derek Howatt said he didn’t recall the item and Julian Morris explained the miss-appropriation to him. He added that rather than supplementary appropriation, that this was a procedural question. Derek Howatt said it could go directly to SFC. Stewart Wallace wondered what happened to the minutes of the treasury meeting where the miss-allocation occurred. Derek Howatt said he would investigate this. Though it wasn’t discussed in any great detail in Matters Arising, Stuart Wallace declared an interest in the Reefer Stacking Yard.
Julian Morris then gave a verbal report and began with staff matters by saying that Bernadette Lang is on Maternity leave and Jeanie Morton has taken over as Financial Controller. She is busy with the “Camp Sport Scheme.” Tim Cotter was away to meetings in the UK and in Europe looking at solar power and seeking support for the solar power scheme. He will give a report at the next board meeting. He is also looking into Coastal Shipping and has put the tender board results to EXCO. Two tenderers have been moved forward.
Mr. Morris said that £5,000.00 for the Energy Saving Scheme was not enough and that £15,000.00, where the funding level had been, was a more realistic figure. Grants of £500.00 are available to help with insulation. He went on to say that Sue Gyford was helping out at Tourism and the Director will help out internationally with a tourism director recruitment plan. Enhanced seating at FIGAS wan another FIDC project. The facility has been substandard and FIDC took on the responsibility. Julian Morris said he felt FIDC, with its tourism hat on, should fund this.
Though Derek Howatt could not remember raising the issue of seating, Cllr. Clausen said she was pleased to see it was happening. Julian Morris said he needed £5,000.00 for the project. At the MPA meeting the Terminal Building was looked at and Julian Morris wants FIDC to fund some plasma screens to air F. I. promotional videos. The Military would ship them free on the airbridge. £10,000.00 would be needed for the media welcoming people to the Falkland Islands as well as partitions needed for the civilian traffic flow through the terminal.
Finally, Julian Morris presented a lengthy discussion about FIMCO, saying that an extra £90,000.00 above the £130,000.00 granted last month. The £65,000.00 asked for in April was a mistake and it should have been £100,000.00. Mr Morris said that 60% of customers that were with the project last year have turned away. Though last year’s loss was significant at £100,000.00, this year was even worse at £240,000.00. Cllr Clausen said this will be looked into and that the situation was not satisfactory.
Roger Spink was concerned that incentives to push farmers into meat production seemed ill placed and suggested a wait and see attitude before farmers go wholly over to meat production. Andrea Clausen said the aim was to go for breeds that produced good wool as well as good meat. Roger Spink said he would rather see subsidies on wool than on Meat. David Lambert was going to present a paper on the changeover from wool to meat and these problems would be addressed in it. One of the items that Mr Morris admitted that he didn’t see coming was the drop in the price in lamb as well as the exodus of customers.
Continuing, Mr Morris said the Dairy was going exceptionately well with new packaging and products. He added that the Reynolds are feeding fish silage to their cows to give protein during the winter months.
Sue Gyford will be doing an annual report this month and Tim Cotter as well as David Lambert would be circulating papers. Mr. Lambert’s paper will be entitled, “What to do with Falklands Wool.”
Though skimmed over in Matters Arising, more detail was added to discussion about the reefer-stacking yard. Reefers needed for the second fishing season have increased and at present there is no yard for loaded 40ft containers. A private business had purchased a reefer-stacking machine and a temporary place was made for 40ft containers. £20,000.00 was needed to provide cabling so that plugs could be flexible rather than static. This yard is only temporary until a permanent 40ft container park has yet to be established.
There was better news about the Mortgage Scheme with 79% of the people having them paying the principle. A few are even paying principle and interest.
A paper, “Future Falklands: a 2020 Vision for Tourism Development in the Falkland Islands” and a study, “”Falkland Islands Tourism Attraction Study,” were distributed to board members and the media. Julian Morris said he felt they missed the mark and that they were heavy on analysis and light on recommendations.
Ian Hansen said that it would take five years to see if the recommendations in the report and study would bring results and whether it was a good or bad report and study. However, due to the lateness of reception of the two documents, he felt the board needed time to read them. The paper and study will be considered in the September board meeting. Julian Morris said that he sees the paper and study as a Tourism project. Sue Gyford will collate comments received from the recipients of the report and study.
Stuart Wallace commented that if the reports aren’t good then the people should do them until they get it right. Andrea Clausen agreed that if the paper isn’t what was expected then Mr. Doherty should get them back for revision until it was satisfactory.
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