Falklands : Legislative Council 11/23/07 Part 2
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.11.2007 (Article Archived on 14.12.2007)
The second part of this important Council meeting.
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL: FRIDAY, 23 NOVEMBER 2007
Tapes by FIRS and FINN - Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)
QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER:
Question Number 05/07 by The Honourable Richard Stevens (RS):
Could the Honourable Mike Rendell advise whether all non surfaced roads East and West are graded at least once annually? If the answer is yes then when is this achieved i.e. in the spring, during the summer months or throughout the year? If the answer is no could you outline the policy?
Finally could you give an overview of where we are now with grading and repair work after the winter months and where we hope to be at the end of the summer?
Answer by the Hon Mr. Mike Rendell (MR):
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members, first I would like to thank the Director of Public Works for his help in compiling this response.
Not all non-surfaced roads in the Falklands are graded annually. The policy is to give priority to roads that carry the highest traffic levels. Account is also taken for conditions on lighter trafficked sections and every effort is made to balance the needs of all users. The Highways Section of Public Works carry out road inspections both formally and informally virtually continuously. Grading programmes based on these inspections are then produced and work is carried out accordingly.
Grading is carried out whenever conditions are suitable, which is mainly the spring and summer months. There are occasional breaks even in the winter when we can do some work of this nature. It would be preferable to do all of the grading in the springtime when the material is more workable due to higher moisture content. But will then dry relatively quickly and retain shape for longer. But this is not logistically possible as there are over 900km of road in the Islands.
The current situation this season is as follows:
The MPA Road has been graded several times and will continue to require attention every few weeks.
Graded once so far this season on the East are the following:
Darwin Road, San Carlos Road, Newhaven Road, Fitzroy Road, half of Goose Green Road, Murrel Road, MPA Road to Port San Carlos, Cape Dolphin, Estancia to Johnsons Harbour – just other areas around town such as tracks leading via Boxer Bridge to Stanley Airport.
On the West:
Grading has been done from Fox Bay to Harps Farm, intermittent grading to Bold Cove Turn-off to Hill Cove and Roy Cove, intermittent grading from Fox Bay to Port Stephens, all graded to Albermale, Port Edgar and Mt Alice and intermittent grading to Dunbar.
Grading is on-going towards Salvador and on the MPA Road currently.
Linked to grading is capping, which improves the running surface and ease with which grading can be affected. And, some work has already been done this season, noticeably on the San Carlos and North Arm Sections.
At the end of the summer, we would hope that all sections of road that need it would have been graded, although capping would have been carried out to sections leading out from Port Howard, the Newhaven Road and North Camp.
RS: I would like to thank the Honourable Mike Rendell for that comprehensive answer but if I could ask one additional question – what is the process pf priority and how does that work? Is there any consultation with the main road users and land owners with PWD and is there any kind of work between all parties that use the work when they prioritise grading and upgrades and things like that?
MR: I am not sure specifically myself how the priorities are worked out but I would be quite confident that the Roads Engineer would be consulting the people and would be receiving feedback from people if they felt that they had a particular problem in their area. So if there isn’t consultation going on I would suggest that it would be in the best interests of the road user who felt there might be a problem in a specific area to address their issues with the Roads Engineer or the Director of Public Works, were that to be the case.
JR: It would appear from your answer that there is considerably more grading going on, on roads on East Falkland rather than on West Falkland. It would appear to be more intermittent on West Falkland. I understand there are logistic issues. I was wondering that if it is expected that in the future it will be more even on both islands.
MR: I expect that is an issue related to the equipment and crushers in the area. If you want good grading you’ve got to have better quality materials. It means you’ve got to possibly crush. As a result of the work that’s going to be going on with the Ferry terminals it is expected that there will be new plant, particularly a driller or whatever they are called. And, that would mean that there could be, in the longer term, one available on West Falkland as well as the one that is currently working on East Falkland. So that in itself would give more potential to finding better quality materials. But I suspect that is the reason for it. And, of course, as more work is completed on East Falkland so it will ease up equipment and resources to do work on the West. We all acknowledge there’s a lot of work to be done on the West, it’s just a question of how it can be fitted in.
MS: Mr. Speaker, I assume from the answer that all of the work is being undertaken on the East and West are undertaken by the Public Works Department. Can you confirm that or if any amount of it is undertaken by private contractors? Is the Member aware of any long-term plans to privatise the maintenance of roads on East and West.
MR: It is a fact that some work is being done by private contractors. We are all aware of a contract that’s been awarded out of Port Howard in particular. I am not aware of any positive decisions being taken to privatise the whole operation bur it would appear to be absolutely no reason why that shouldn’t be very seriously considered in the longer term and the potential way forward.
Question Number 06/07 by The Honourable Janet Robertson (JR):
Could the Honourable Richard Stevens advise what power requirements there will be for the proposed VSAT systems that will be supplied to some Camp areas, and further, who will take responsibility for the cost of installing and maintaining the power systems?
Answer by the Honourable Richard Stevens (RS):
The total power requirement can be calculated depending on the equipment, manufacturer, size of antenna, the location of the terminal, band-with required and the satellite being used. Additional factors, such as requirement for antennas, de-icing, it is a life-line telephone service – can increase power consumption from 100W to 1 KW or more.
It is possible that in some areas a single satellite dish could supply several homes and therefore power consumption would be higher than where a single dish serves a single home. System design and integration work is currently on-going and a VSAT equipment vendor has not yet been selected so Cable & Wireless are unable to supply an exact figure for power consumption at this stage.
The aim of the on-going design work is to try and improve as many of the remote areas as possible in the terrestrial radio network to reduce the number of locations which will be connected using VSAT solutions.
As Cable & Wireless will manage the design, procurement and installation, for power systems required by the Camp Network, Government has agreed to fund the cost of the initial installation base systems.
Some information – the antenna de-icing is required on dish based solutions because connectivity can be lost of the dish becomes covered in snow and ice in the winter. High power consumption is required for service dedicated primarily to voice telephone rather than internet at the first requirement.
JR: Thank you, Councillor Stevens, for your answer. I was wondering if we had available to us any information about whether other VSAT systems require the same amount of power and what the difference might be between what is being proposed and what might already be in existence elsewhere. I appreciate that’s a complex subsidiary question but I was just wondering if you might happen to know.
RS: Yes. It is a ticklish question and the answer that I am given, of course, is it gives quite a few options from 100W to 1 KW and 1 KW is a considerable amount of power for people living in Camp. I have been told that the VSATS that are now in operation in the Falklands require less. It would be in the early 100W rather than in the 1 KW range.
Question Number 07/07 by The Honourable Janet Robertson:
Could the Honourable Mike Summers confirm that there is a points system in place for the allocation of houses to people on the housing list, and further, that the criteria used in the points system is in the public domain?
MS: Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I am happy to confirm that a points system is in place in the allocation of Government housing for qualifying parties, other than those who are provided with housing as part of their employment conditions.
The current system was adopted in July 2006 and has been in use since that time, with minor adjustments in the application form to improve clarity. The system is primarily based on the size and make-up of the family unit, the size of existing housing relative to that, medical and social needs, the age of applicant, financial situation including savings and earnings existing accommodation and any previous record as a Government tenant or debtor, residents returning from training as professionals gain points as with those that are over-crowded or in a house share. Consideration is also given to those wishing to transfer to another Government property where the set-up optimises the usage of those properties.
The details of the system have not been formally published although it shouldn’t be. The information sourced on the individual application form makes clear, in terms of the information sought, what criteria will be taken into account.
The reason that the information has not been formally published is an administrative error. A decision was made by the Housing Committee on the 7th of June 2006 that the points system should be sent to the General Management for any comment and then on to EXCO. For reasons which pass me by, that did not happen. Bur I will make sure that it does now happen.
Note: The next items have been covered so the next to be transcribed will be Motion for Adjournment Speeches.
MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT:
Cllr The Hon Mr Mike Summers:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, I would just like to thank my Honourable Colleagues for returning me to Executive Council for the next year and hope that I will be able to execute the trust that you have for me and my colleagues to help carry us forward in what will be some interesting times.
It was highly appropriate, in my view, that we had a minute’s silence for the late David Taylor before the session started. For those of us who worked with David Taylor both in Legislative Council and Executive Council as I did, he was an extraordinary man and he came at an extraordinary time in Falklands history, right after the war when a lot of things needed to be done, a huge amount of reconstruction work needed to be co-ordinated and put forward. There was no time, really, for slow decision making and David was the right sort of man to push those things forward. And, he also had to be incredibly creative in his thinking and in the exercise of his duties because he had the responsibility of recommending how the revised report of Lord Shackleton in 1982 should be carried forward. He was responsible for the reform of the Public Service and for the creation of the Falkland Islands Development Corporation. He was responsible in many ways for overseeing the beginnings of the creation of the Fishing Zone around the Falklands and many, many, many other things. So, he made a tremendous contribution to the Falklands life in his work. He was also an extraordinary character. And, for those of us who had the pleasure of knowing David, he could be great fun. I was speaking the other day to one of his friends in the Post Office and he said to me that he was great fun and had a fantastic sense of the ridiculous. You probably needed, just post 1982, a good sense of the ridiculous just to survive in those very difficult times. He did a tremendous job and we all owe him a great debt of gratitude.
I would just like to note, too, the passing of Tony Pettersson, who was a servant of the Government for over 40 years in the Printing Office, who recently passed away. And, of course, Graham Middleton, who passed away in service. It was a sad time and such things happen with young people, young families and I think this House would like to extend our condolences both to Tony Pettersson’s family and to Graham Middleton’s family.
I am delighted that as of today, effectively, we have implemented the new portfolio system that this Council has been working on for quite some time. The purpose of the new portfolio system is to bring greater scrutiny to the activities of the Government. It has been well trailed through the process of the Select Committee. But essentially the three Executive Council Members now will have very limited portfolio responsibilities and the other members not on Executive Council will carry the bulk of Portfolio responsibility.
The purpose of that is so that the members of Executive Council should not be too closely involved in making recommendations for policy that come up to Executive Council and then can scrutinise them in a more independent and clearer fashion. Members of Executive Council also have the right and, indeed the duty to scrutinise the decision-making processes of Executive Council. But we have to be thinking about ways in which that can be better done. So, there will be five portfolios from now, headed by individual Councillors with support from others. We’ve had a number of discussions in recent days about how the non-Executive Council Members are going to scrutinise the Executive Council Members and some of our thoughts turn around revising the way we do things in this House.
And, we intend to have some discussions with the Honourable Speaker and others in due course about that. And, we may, indeed, bring the activities of the Standing Finance Committee back into the House and have a finance section of the agenda, perhaps questions with written notice, perhaps questions without notice. Those are the sorts of ideas that we are thinking about to give Members the opportunity to Scrutinise Executive Council about decisions they have made and how they have made them, so we look forward to those discussions and hope that those along with other measures that we will introduce will improve the quality of scrutiny in our Government. And, if anybody has any other ideas, we are always very happy to hear them.
Briefly, the portfolios that now exist are (from today): Minerals and Agriculture (One Portfolio), Fisheries, Tourism and Development (the second), Education (the third), Health and Public Protection (the fourth), and Land Use and Public Services (the fifth). Executive Councillors will take responsibility for: Policy and Administration, Regulatory Services, (Treasury and finance). I look forward to bringing that into its full form in the next several months and hope that it will provide for us an approved system of Government.
The final comment I would like to make today is about drugs. The issue was rightly raised in the public meeting the other day that there is some concern about there being drugs in the community. All Councils, in my recollection, have posted a zero tolerance policy about drugs in this country. They are, as I think many people will agree, the root of many evils, if not all of them. So, I would just like to take this opportunity to appeal to all and any members of the community who have any knowledge at all about either the importation or the use of drugs in this community to report it directly to the Police, if they so feel, or to a member of the Council or somebody else who can take it to the Police if they feel somehow inhibited. It is critically important to us as a community that we do not allow drugs to take any part in life in these Islands.
Mr Speaker I support the Motion.
Cllr the Hon Mr Ian Hansen:
Thank-you Mr Speaker. Honourable Members, I will be brief. I would just like to begin by mentioning the recent departure from these Islands of Neil and Jenny Judd, who spent six years here. Neil was first the Wool Advisor and then the Senior Agricultural Advisor. Jenny, of course, was a very efficient and popular teacher in the Infant/Junior School. I think both of them have made a very valuable contribution to the Falklands and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them and wish them well for the future.
I thought I would speak briefly on development and progress in the Islands and perhaps particularly in the Camp. It would be very easy to concentrate on the slightly pessimistic and critical approach which seems to be directed mainly at the Camp in certain quarters at the moment.
Flying over the Falklands is something I spend a fair amount of time doing. And, I actually find it very satisfying to see the road system is continually extending all over Camp, reaching out to farms and locations large and small. I find it pleasing to fly over the Sand Bay Wind Farm and to see those huge wing turbines turning and know also that most of the farms and locations of the road system are continuing to link in – they also have their own power generated by smaller wind turbines.
And, of course it has to be good to see cruise ships anchored in and around Stanley from the months of October to April every year. All this is progress.
Getting back to the Camp development, it isn’t perhaps immediately apparent or recognised that there are already established and successful business enterprises operating in and from the Camp. Southern Imports, Saddle Computers, Warrah Design and the new tannery at Hill Cove – all these and probably others I have missed have the belief and force of business acumen to believe they can be successful outside Stanley. And, when you actually take into account the lodges and self-catering units that are already operating, it actually adds up to a pretty positive picture. Just having a positive attitude is not enough – never enough for existing or new businesses because it’s always possible that businesses of any type will need assistance in some form or another.
We often have complaints – and usually with just cause – about television footage and of course, our telephone communications. But this in itself should be viewed as progress and development because our expectations are far higher than they used to be. So we obviously have developed and progressed because of those higher expectations.
I do believe that those who first supported the concept of roads, the concept of the abattoir, wind farming, television – all the things I have mentioned – if those people had taken heed of the minority of people who, in each case, were adamant that these things just couldn’t happen, there is no question in my mind that they wouldn’t have happened. I do firmly believe that not only this Council and this Government but future councils and governments should always take the attitude that though new ventures may not be smooth-running and perfect, we should at the very least have the confidence to put them in place and try them and adapt them with common sense both financially and practically.
There was just one other issue I thought of while I was speaking – to do with the Government – and I will finish on that – and that is there is still the issue of a single constituency in the air. It’s been mentioned this week. I personally can’t see the benefits of a single constituency and what benefits that would bring to the Camp in particular and indeed the Falklands as a whole. And I am one person who will question the logic behind such a move. However, if this is an issue, that this present Council feels it should discuss I would be very interested to hear the views of not only my colleagues but both the Camp and Stanley Electorate.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome the Chief of Staff to this meeting of Council as well as the Attorney General and Michael Blanch. I know it’s a short time I will be working with you Dr Blanch but it’s a privilege to have the opportunity.
Thank-you Mr. Speaker.
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