Ascension : Ascension Island Council Meeting 08/09/09
Submitted by The Islander (Juanita Brock) 28.09.2009 (Article Archived on 12.10.2009)
The Island Council met on Tuesday September 8th at 0930 in the Council Chamber. The Governor, who was back on Ascension on his way back to St Helena, was present.
Ascension Island Council Meeting,
Council Chamber, Georgetown,
Tuesday 8th Sept. 2009
The Island Council met on Tuesday September 8th at 0930 in the Council Chamber. The Governor, who was back on Ascension on his way back to St Helena, was present. The Attorney General and Councillor Peters joined the meeting by telephone link. Councillor Kitty George sent her apologies and Crown Counsel was not present as she was on her way back to the island from St Helena. The minutes of the previous formal meeting, held on 14 July, were agreed.
Under matters arising from last month's meeting, updates were provided on the following ongoing issues:
Proposal for temporary employment permits, which is being studied by the Attorney General
the tax or rather fiscal review, which awaits a decision on funding. The plan is to have a good look at the existing tax system on Ascension seven years after it was introduced to consider what if anything needs changing and also the wider questions about the financing of services that people need here
EDF10, the European Union money to fund the resurfacing of our road network, with the money due to be available in 2010
Rental of property outside employment contracts - the framework is nearly ready for this and it is hoped that 2 or 3 houses can be made available for this soon
Fisheries - MRAG are working on their second study, this time into fisheries cooperation between the islands. This makes a lot of sense as the costs of policing a fishery, patrol vessels, on board observers and so on, is very expensive for any one island to bear on its own. So a joint fishing zone including St Helena is likely to emerge as a proposal and this would seem a sensible way forward. We look forward to seeing the second MRAG report when it issues
Reduction in the legal limits for driving after consuming alcohol - Crown Counsel had prepared a paper on this for Council's consideration. Council felt that a detailed discussion was required and that there also needed to be a period of public awareness before any change was brought in
Sale or supply of alcohol to children Council advised and the Governor agreed that subject to a final amendment that had been requested, the Control of Alcohol to Young Persons Ordinance should be enacted
Harbour Regulations - it had been agreed at the last meeting that because the last public consultation on this had been two years ago, this should be repeated. There were no comments from the public in response, so the Council advised and the Governor agreed that the Harbours (Ascension) Regulations should now be enacted
Food Safety Regulations - Crown Counsel had circulated outline Food Safety Legislation for Council to consider. This will be discussed further at a future meeting when Crown Counsel is back on island. Among the main concerns is to ensure that out of date food can no longer be offered for sale to the public.
We then moved on to the substantive agenda items, the first of which was the question of who should represent the Ascension Island Council at the 11th Overseas Territories Consultative Council in London in December.
The Governor noted that this will be a significant meeting as the Forum will discuss the 1999 White Paper ten years on. This provides an opportunity to discuss where good progress has been made, where more remains to be done, where things have worked well and where things might have been done differently, all of which could help inform any possible future policy review of the relationship between the UK and the Overseas Territories. Members will now decide among themselves which one of them will attend.
Turning to further education and the outstanding question of possible funding to allow the remaining two school leavers to attend colleges in the UK, it was agreed by majority vote to advise the Governor that £3,000 should provided in respect of each student for their first year. The situation would be reviewed towards the end of the school year but given current financial circumstances there was no guarantee that any support could be provided for their second year at college. The respective parents will be advised of this accordingly.
We then had a discussion about election arrangements on Ascension following a suggestion by one of the Councillors that a three year, rather than two year term might be sensible. The present Council was already almost halfway through its term and there was much work remaining to be done. The Governor said that the initial decision was based on the two year work contracts entered into by people on Ascension but that Council could make a recommendation to have the legislation amended if they wished.
Under Any Other Business we discussed possible licenses for gambling machines. This followed a suggestion by the police that we might consider these as licenses were required for such machines on St Helena.
However following investigation it appeared that the amounts collected by the small amount of machines on the island, against their rental cost, didn't warrant this. Council therefore advised and the Governor agreed that it was not feasible to introduce licenses and fees at.
Councillor Peters told the meeting that his return to the island had been delayed and that he will now return on 28 September. Councillor Close advised that she will be off island from 11 September to 19 October.
The Governor mentioned interest by the Bank of St Helena in possible co-location within our Post Office. This could be mutually beneficial as each could help with leave cover
for the other. The idea was at a very early stage still and if the Bank decide to pursue this they will produce a more detailed proposal. If it does go ahead there would be separate counters and screens to ensure customer privacy for both operations.
In the closed session Council members were updated on the ongoing discussions in the UK about the arrears of property tax owed by the Ministry of Defence. The Governor and Administrator had made it clear at their recent meetings in London that this would increasingly impact on service provision, and that the depletion of the cash reserves makes it impossible to carry out necessary replacements to plant and infrastructure. Officials in London have been unable to change the MOD's position on this and because of the seriousness of the situation Ministers will now be engaged. It is important that they are aware of the problems the island now faces as a result. A formal demand for the outstanding arrears has also been issued and Council will consider any necessary subsequent action that may be needed if this is not resolved.
The current tax system may not be universally popular (in fact no tax system is!) but it is worth reminding ourselves that the system was agreed by all prior to its introduction in 2002, and is breaking down because the revenue calculated to be sufficient to provide common services on the island is being withheld. It does underline the need for a fundamental review of not only the tax system itself, but the wider question of financing services on the island.
Council also discussed the question of petrol supplies to the island. Notice was given by the MOD back in 2005 that they would not be able to provide petrol after a period of five years, which ends when the current supply of petrol is exhausted by around March/April next year.
The public had been made aware of this by notices in the Islander. A lot of work has been done in the intervening period to find alternative ways of bringing petrol to the island but without success. The MOD are in fact prepared to continue bringing petrol to the island but will have nowhere to store it as the storage tank is in poor repair and it would not be safe to continue operating it without very expensive repairs. The MOD cannot justify financing these repairs as they no longer need petrol themselves, and the AIG is in no position to take this on. So people should be in no doubt that petrol supplies are due to be exhausted by 2010, which marks the end of the five year period of notice that the MOD gave the island back in 2005.
The meeting ended at 1300.
Ross Denny
Administrator
Ascension Island
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