Falklands : Motion for Adjournment Speech by the Hon Mr Gavin Short MLA
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 30.08.2011 (Article Archived on 13.09.2011)
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in rising to support the Motion I would like to make a couple of points if I may, please?
Motion for Adjournment Speech by the Hon Mr Gavin Short MLA:
Mr Speaker, Honourable Members, in rising to support the Motion I would like to make a couple of points if I may, please?
I would like to say thanks to those in the Power and Electrical Section who went out and made sure that Stanley was again lit up like a little Christmas tree after our last session here and also for putting the covers back on the tin-lamp posts around town. If the public see any of the posts minus covers or working lights, etc. I or the Power Station would be very happy to hear from you.
As stated here before the Department is woefully under-staffed but manage in spite of this to respond very quickly to requests to repair lights. I have yet to hear how we are getting on recruiting the extra manpower required for the power station. However, I do hope I will be given some positive news on this soon and that will not be allowed to drive on for another two plus years.
With one eye on the future, I have asked PWD to inform me of the type of street lamps that will be used on the Sapper Hill development, as the new ones that we have here around town, which to me look more like tin whistles with lights on top certainly don’t seem to be coping with our winds that are trying to vibrate the innards and the lamps to pieces and I suspect that Sapper Hill is going to cop some rather boisterous winds. And I certainly don’t want us having to spend more cash in the future bolting RSJs on to them in order to stop them from self-destructing.
The MPA Road has caused me to get a few broadsides over the past months, not to mention compacted vertebrae from my weekly excursions up and down to the LAN flight. Weather has played a great part in this. If you get a wet spell then as quick as they grade it and get up and down the road, the holes are re-forming. And it’s only if you get a few dry days that you can start to make a difference. And I am not taking a pop at the road crew. They do the best they can and I, for one, appreciate their efforts.
The fact is that all the goods for Stanley have to be hauled in the road and that has contributed – a large contribution factor to the state of the MPA Road and this is something that we will have to keep firmly in our minds if we decide that Mare Harbour is the place for our port; as traffic levels will increase and we cannot have a road that in long periods of darkness becomes extremely dangerous. This will have to be factored in to the final price of the port.
I know the efforts made by some of the MLAs to get around as much of the road system on the West as they could during their recent outing. It was very much appreciated. And in only a few days we will be locking ourselves away to have a session on roads. I guess we all know before the key turns in the lock that it will come down to dosh. And I suspect that we will have to consider seriously upping the amount that is spent if we want to make a difference, which in turn will take funding away from other capital projects. It is going to be difficult to strike the right balance but if life were easy then it would be boring.
I am actually finding myself torn between wanting a dry summer so that we can crack on with roads and Sapper Hill and all the other projects that depend on the weather being kind to us and also wanting rain so that the effects on the water supply for having a second rig down this way aren’t felt too much.
It has been a joy to watch the cement (concrete) going down on Ross Road; and I would like to thank the public for their patience as laying cement and, more to the point, waiting for it to go off does take time. But unlike Asphalt, it does have a much longer life if laid correctly. That said, the front road is something that I know the PWD are wary of touching as it is sitting on top of clay – very deep clay which would almost be prohibitively time consuming – not to mention expensive – to dig out. So we are keeping our fingers firmly crossed that the methods used on the slabs outside of the Police Station will work.
What is causing me some alarm though is the rate at which the old sections are breaking up as soon as the traffic is all re-directed on to one side. The front road has done us well and has certainly stood up brilliantly to traffic flows and weights that are much greater than it was ever imagined when it was laid.
Once the slabs are finished then we can get on with putting the barriers up on the sidewalk and installing the zebra crossing and opening up the footpath down from the IJS, which I hope will alleviate the extremely unhealthy mix of vehicles and pedestrians that we have at the moment.
Some time ago there was general talk of looking at a one-way system. The works on the front road have caused traffic to flow in directions that they normally wouldn’t, were Ross Road open. And this has had an unfortunate effect on one house owner who lives on a road that has suddenly seen much heavier use. The traffic passing by is actually causing quite strong vibrations to be felt which he is becoming heartily fed up with. I can only presume that this is because in areas of old Stanley roads and properties are built on top of peat and clay. I can only apologise and assure him that we will have Ross Road works finished as soon as is humanly possible.
I was extremely happy to see the Immigration and PRP amendments finally come into this House. There were times when it seemed like it would never happen; and my grateful thanks to all those involved. A lot more work remains to be done but progress is being made and we start work in earnest again in September.
Before sitting down I would like to turn my attention towards the cursed neighbours. I note in particular a statement that was made by their defence minister in which he said that his Government was minded to respect our ways of life, language, culture, etc. We’ve heard all this before and from my experience of them nearly thirty years ago, they would not know the word “respect” if it came up and sat up on its hind legs wanting attention. I had a dose of their respect and will not be having another experience of it. Perhaps if instead of using macho bullying tactics they were to grow up or smell the coffee and start to behave like a first world country – which they say they are – and recognise us as a people with just as much right to our country and to determine our own future and way of life as they have then maybe – just maybe – given long enough we could start to have normal, friendly relations as we would hope to have with any other country. But until they drop their totally unfounded and illegal claim, stop behaving in a threatening, macho manner and with blatant disregard for international treaties then they can sit over in their crumbling country and posture all they like. This Islander is not giving an inch. Full stop.
Sir, I wish to support the Motion
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