Falklands : Falklands Executive Council Report (02/21/08)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 26.02.2008 (Article Archived on 11.03.2008)

A meeting of Executive Council took place on Thursday, 21 February 2008. Cllr Summers reviewed the meeting for FINN.

Report of the Meeting of Executive Council on Thursday 21^st February

This was a relatively short meeting of Executive Council with 16 items on the agenda.

Under matters arising from minutes of the meeting on 6^th February Council reviewed progress on the continued provision of fisheries protection, and expressed themselves satisfied that there would be in place for this season adequate resource to provide a proper management and protection capability. Council also reviewed the early progress of the working group looking at longer term requirements.

There were a number of financial and fiscal papers. FIG as a shareholder in Stanley Services Ltd gave approval to its directors to agree to further investment in the Malvina House Hotel. A continued subsidy from public funds to cover the management costs of the FI Pension Scheme was recommended to Select Committee on the Estimates. Revised charges from the Department of Agriculture were agreed. Extra statutory concessions requested by the tax office, one to give equality of tax treatment to companies purchasing of its own shares, and the second to extend authority to companies to prepare accounts in a currency other than sterling, were agreed. Designs for new coins to commemorate the 175^th Anniversary of settlement at Port Louis, the 70^th Anniversary of the Spitfire, the 60^th Birthday of HRH Prince Charles and the 90^th Anniversary of the RAF, were agreed. For anyone not familiar with this part of Falkland’s history, the Government and people of the Falkland Islands presented ten Spitfires to HMG in support of the Second World War allied efforts.

Council received a substantial paper from the FI Tourist Board setting down its proposed strategy for development of the industry and initial proposals for marketing and public relations in the 2008/09 season. There has been a large amount of work put into the creation of this strategy by the Board and members of FITB and a wide range of other interested parties; the first stage of this work was overseen and co-ordinated by FIDC, and completed by the new GM FITB with the support of his staff. The strategy has five key objectives which are i) substantial growth in land based tourism through increased arrivals and longer stay; ii) exceed regional cruise ship growth; iii) increase average per head revenue from cruise vessel passengers; iv) create, develop, invest in and maintain a world class tourism offering; and v) increase awareness and build a positive perception of the Islands as a tourism destination.  The strategy contains aggressive targets to achieve these objectives. Executive Council welcomed the document and the proposal to arrange an early meeting to present it in more detail to Councillors. At this meeting Councillors will also wish to see where the Board sees the best prospective returns on investment, a longer term view of capital expenditure requirements, an update from the Immigration Department on progress in collecting appropriate statistics, and an estimate of the effects of the strategy on GNP. The Councillor responsible for tourism was also encouraged to consider how to provide a broader forum to oversee tourism development to include those aspects crucial to its success like air communications, the ferry, roads, etc that fall in the public domain.

There was a further paper on the proposals to provide a new BFBS television service to the Falklands, focussing in this paper principally on the camp system. Council provided further direction to officers to develop a final proposal that would deliver BFBS I and BFBS II to all Stanley and camp residents who wished to receive it at a cost that was equivalent to all residents of the Islands. This will mean a capital cost contribution from FIG to the project, and the collection of an annual fee to recover over time the capital and ongoing operating costs of the service, though Government would not anticipate contributing to ongoing maintenance of domestic facilities. The Government Secretary has now been authorised to proceed to contract with SSVC/BFBS.

Approval was given for the private development of part of the Camber Dock for a yacht mooring, and for a building plot on Snake Hill; an application for a license to hold land was deferred pending receipt of further information.

Under any other business Exco agreed that Councillors Clausen and Summers should be the FIG nominated directors of SSL for the immediate term with Cllr Clausen taking over as Chairman from the next meeting. Council also requested a paper from the Director of Fisheries on license fees for the toothfish fishery, asked the Attorney General to urgently review the Education Ordinance to enable alternative proposals for the post GCSE period, and the preparation of a paper to establish the meaning of social use for some camp airstrips.

Mike Summers

25/2/08

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