Ascension : Administrator's Report on Ascension Island Council Meeting
Submitted by The Islander (Public Relations Information Office) 29.07.2009 (Article Archived on 12.08.2009)
The Ascension Island Council held a formal meeting on Tuesday 14 July 2009. His Excellency the Governor, visiting Ascension for two days en route to the UK, was present. All members were present with the exception of Councillor Poultney who is off island. Councillor Peters joined the meeting by video link.
Administrator's Report on Ascension Island Council Meeting
The Ascension Island Council held a formal meeting on Tuesday 14 July 2009. His Excellency the Governor, visiting Ascension for two days en route to the UK, was present. All members were present with the exception of Councillor Poultney who is off island. Councillor Peters joined the meeting by video link.
Under matters arising, a progress report was given by the Administrator on a number of issues that have been discussed during this Council's term, and on which work continues, mainly by the legal experts. An update was also given on the development of a commercial fishery strategy, with licenses being sold to foreign fleets, and possibly in cooperation with other South Atlantic islands in order to share the burden of operating a patrol vessel and other management and control measures. MRAG, a leading British marine resources consultancy, has prepared its first report for the islands, currently in draft, on combating illegal fishing in the waters of Ascension, St Helena and Tristan. This is important when you consider the revenue that is almost certainly being lost as fishing goes on in our waters without licenses having been bought, and while there is currently no surveillance of any kind.
There are also international obligations on quotas and management that have to be adhered to. MRAG will be producing a second report later in the year on options for cooperating on fisheries management across our islands to our mutual benefit. Separately we are in touch with MRAG for specific advice on the level of license fees for fishing in our waters so that we can make a start.
Sharon Wainwright joined the meeting to brief the Council on the air access consultations. Sharon was on Ascension to hold a series of workplace and public meetings to pave the way for the forthcoming visit by the DfID facilitator, Rosemary Stevenson. A successful public meeting had already been held on Monday evening.
Much of the ensuing meeting was taken up with discussion of various pieces of draft legislation. Remaining questions on the draft seat belt law, including whether the age of responsibility for ensuring a seat belt is worn should be 14 - as is the case in the UK - or 16, as had been suggested at an earlier meeting, were resolved. It was agreed that 14 would be the appropriate age, the proposed exemptions were also agreed, and the Council was able to advise the Governor that the Ordinance be enacted as soon as possible.
A proposal by the Police Adviser that we should reduce the legal blood alcohol limit for drivers who have been drinking, to match the current UK level, was discussed and it was resolved that a public awareness campaign should now run for three months, after which the proposal would be considered further by Council. The draft Ordinance to prohibit the sale or supply of alcohol to those under 18 was passed and Council advised the Governor that this too should be enacted as soon as possible.
And the Commemorative Coins Ordinance was similarly passed. Once enacted this should enable us to generate some very welcome and necessary new revenue - not a huge amount perhaps, but worthwhile nevertheless and part of Government's efforts to increase revenue wherever it can, in addition to work on controlling expenditure.
A range of other legal issues was discussed including the draft Food Hygiene Regulations which would make the sale of food past its sell-by date illegal, and the Harbour Regulations, on which the public was consulted in 2006/7 and then revised in the light of reactions. This will now be put to the public for final consultation before implementing in the near future.
There are a number of other issues that will keep our Crown Counsel and the Attorney General busy for some time, not least the implementation of our new Constitution, which was recently approved by HM the Queen in the Privy Council.
The Further Education Policy was then discussed. This has become contentious because the number of potentially eligible school leavers wanting to study at Chichester has outstripped the available funding. Council has had several discussions about this and a revised policy was considered at an informal Council meeting held last week. This would reflect something along the lines of a competitive scholarship system, with a strictly limited budget and limited number of students studying at local colleges in Saint Helena or in the UK, who would stay with a member of their extended family, rather than in halls of residence at college, which is an expensive option. There was further debate about the relative merits of such a scheme at the formal meeting but Councillors ultimately felt they had no choice but to advise the Governor that with such a tight economic situation, it would be better to suspend the policy until such times as the Government has recovered all the tax arrears due to it. This was not decided lightly, indeed it was a difficult decision to have to make, but members felt it to be the responsible option in current circumstances. Those children already at college would continue to receive AIG support until the end of the course they had embarked on.
Following on from this, Council discussed the position of the two students who had hoped to go to Chichester College this year but for whom no funds were available.
A proposal to provide partial assistance was discussed, but we were unable to reach a consensus. The proposal was then put to a vote but with 3 voting in favour, and 3 against, (and one voting member absent) we were unable to resolve the issue and it will have to be looked at again when all seven voting members of the council are available.
Other business included a request for the Senior Medical Officer to issue a further article in next week's Islander to inform the public on Swine Flu, and to make better arrangements for handling out-patients at the hospital to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
In the closed session there was further discussion about the big issues facing the island, including the Government's financial situation, which has worsened as the result of declining income and steeply rising costs, much of which is outside Government's control such as freight costs, RMS and air-bridge ticket costs, electricity and water price rises, and so on. It's worth mentioning here that when taxation was introduced in 2002 it was a direct replacement for the arrangement operated by the users who between them had to finance and deliver the services that AIG now does. Tax rates have not increased over the past seven years, while the number of people paying tax has steadily fallen as a result of downsizing, serious tax arrears have accumulated, and AIG has had to absorb all the various increases imposed on it from outside. No private company could continue on this basis - they immediately pass any cost increases on to the customer, as we see when the utilities bills go up, air and sea passages go up, or food prices in the supermarket go up. A thorough review of taxation and other financing arrangements will be necessary in the near future, to come up with a more sustainable way forward.
We also had detailed discussions on the impact that plans by any of the employing organisations, particularly the MoD with its current major review of operations, could have on the delicate balance that is a feature of this island, and on the strategy to manage the implications.
Such issues will continue to occupy Council for some time to come. It would not be appropriate to go into further detail here about this, but I mention it in broad terms to reassure the public that proper consideration is being given to the handling of both our current situation and the forthcoming developments, and also for the benefit of those who believe that we only ever discuss trivial matters like coins and flags.
Council discussed the question of unleaded petrol supplies to the island, which the MoD gave notice back in 2005 would discontinue in 5 years' time, i.e., in early 2010. Provisional figures have been mentioned for repair works to the petrol storage tank at Catherine Point, of around £100k for repairs that might give the tank a further 18- 24 months use, and somewhere in the region of £600-700k for a longer term fix that might give up to 15 years extra life. While this would doubtless be welcome for those who are still running a petrol car, and could in principle be recovered by a higher duty on petrol over time, it is inescapable that without sufficient capital, we are just not in a position to make this kind investment.
Finally there was a discussion about how to reconcile the need for competition, customer choice and requests to set up new businesses, or extend existing ones, with the difficulty faced by existing businesses in a tiny market that is already under pressure. This had been partly prompted by two recent business applications. While acknowledging the difficulties faced by the private sector on the island, Council nevertheless felt that new business should not be blocked from providing competition and offering a wider choice to the customer.
The meeting ended at 15:00.
The next meeting is provisionally set for Tuesday 8th September 2009. An informal meeting will be held in August to prepare the ground.
Ross Denny Administrator
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