Ascension : Administrator’s Report on Island Council Meeting held Thursday 15thOctober 2009
Submitted by The Islander (Ascension Island Government) 22.10.2009 (Article Archived on 05.11.2009)

The Island Council met on Thursday October 15th at 3pm in the Council Chamber.

The Island Council met on Thursday October 15th at 3pm in the Council Chamber. The Governor and Attorney General joined the meeting by telephone link. Councillor Miller was off island and therefore unable to be present.

The minutes of the previous formal meeting, held on 8^th September, were agreed.

Under matters arising from last month’s meeting, updates were provided on the following ongoing issues:

• A proposal for temporary employment permits, which awaits advice from the Attorney General

• the tax or fiscal review, for which funding has now been agreed. Jeffrey Davenport from Her Majesty’s Customs and Revenue will visit Ascension from 26 October to 6 November. Jeffrey will hold a number of meetings with taxpaying organizations and the public has been informed through a notice in last week’s Islander. This also invited comments.

• The resurfacing of the main road network, with EDF10 funds likely to be released by the EU late next year

• Fisheries – MRAG consultants are still working on their second study, on possible fisheries cooperation between the islands and we expect this to be ready next month. Council discussed the idea of a joint fisheries regime between Ascension and St Helena which could share the costs, and divide the revenue based on the amount of fish caught in each island’s waters. Based on current data on fish stocks this is likely to mean more revenue would come here. Council were interested in how such a revenue sharing model would work in practice and how it would be monitored, and looked forward to further details.

• On employment legislation there was discussion about the possibility of updating the Workmen’s Protection Ordinance, which contains some important guarantees for workers on Ascension but, originally drafted in 1926, it was felt that this could benefit from updating. One early idea was that all employers should be required to have and operate clear internal grievance procedures – the majority of them do so already, but not all.

• There was a suggestion that if and when circumstances allowed for the Further Education Policy to be reinstated there should be public consultation about a revised policy. And a suggestion that the proposal for the term of elected Island Councillor to be three rather than two years to ensure greater continuity, ought to be put to public consultation also.

• It was suggested that a public meeting with Councillors was long overdue. It was pointed out that the elected members could hold such meetings whenever they wished – there was no requirement to wait for Government officials to organize this.

• Two pieces of recently agreed legislation, the Harbour Regulations and the Sale or Supply of Alcohol to Minors Ordinance, are now with the Attorney General for enactment.

Items that had arisen in the recently held informal meeting of Council were then discussed.

Concern had been raised over the control of pet dogs following an incident in which a child had been bitten by a dog and required medical attention. Crown Counsel had advised Council that legislation existed to cover this and could be enforced e.g., to require the animal’s owner to keep the dog on a leash in public, but that this required a complaint to be made so that it could be investigated. It was further suggested that the Police should be asked to promote the need for owners to control their dogs, including through a suitable notice in the Islander.

There was a request for the Court Users Group to have a meeting with Fay Howe, the new Social Work Manager and Trainer who would be on Ascension from 8 to 22 October. It was noted that this was already in hand, along with several other meetings that were being arranged.

Council then moved on to the substantive agenda items, the first being the proposed reduction in legal limits for driving after consuming alcohol. This was a recommendation by Simon Martin, the Southern Oceans Law Enforcement Adviser, who visited Ascension in December last year. A more recent visitor, an Inspector from the Derbyshire Constabulary with considerable experience in road safety matters, had brought to our attention that Ascension (and St Helena) had the highest legal limits in the world and that this could be a danger to the drivers as well as other road users and pedestrians. He endorsed Simon Martin’s recommendation that the limits here be brought in line with those in the other Overseas Territories, which are on a par with the UK (which itself has the highest limit in Europe). This was always going to be controversial here where many favour the status quo and there is a low level of awareness of the dangers posed by drinking and driving.

A representative of the Court Users Group presented counter arguments to the proposal to lower the limit and in favour of leaving the limits as they are, on the basis of the small number of fatalities involving drinking over recent years, and the rural nature of our roads including an absence of motorways, roundabouts, dense traffic etc. The Inspector of Police, Crown Counsel and some of the Councillors felt equally strongly that the limits were too high and should be brought down to levels elsewhere as a matter of public safety. Detailed evidence from bodies such as the British Medical Association was also made available to Council.

After further detailed discussion Councillors felt they needed more time to consider the evidence and arguments before they could offer advice to the Governor.

On a related subject there was discussion about the appropriate level of fines with a consensus in favour of increasing these. And discussion about the disqualification proviso which currently allows magistrates in certain circumstances to disqualify someone from the class of vehicle they committed an offence in only, and being free to drive other classes of vehicle. The argument in favour of this was that loss of licence could lead to disproportionate hardship if this meant the individual losing their job, and therefore their home and ability to stay on the island. Others felt that a blanket disqualification would be a strong disincentive and discourage people from drinking excessively and driving in the first place.

There will be further discussion about this very important and emotive issue. It was also recognized that there needs to be a public campaign to educate people about the dangers of driving after drinking – it is established scientific fact that alcohol impairs judgment and makes for unsafe drivers. The roads are quieter on Ascension than in many other places but a drunk driver is still an impaired driver, and can still be a risk here.

As the Governor and Attorney General needed to leave shortly for other commitments, the Closed Session was brought forward. This included a further update on the tax dispute with the Ministry of Defence in the UK.

There was discussion on the position regarding petrol supplies which all should now be well aware are due to run out early next year. There was concern that people might be tempted to hoard petrol in order to buy some time. This was not only against the law, but potentially highly dangerous. It is therefore essential that nobody is tempted to do this.

An application to operate a small business offering take away pizzas, and an enhanced taxi service – which could be very useful to enable people to drink without the worry of how to get home safely – was considered and approved. The applicant will be notified shortly.

Council then returned to the remainder of the items on the agenda.

• Food Safety Regulations – it was felt that any regulations needed to be a light touch and should not be onerous on businesses who were already finding conditions difficult, and that some aspects might need to be phased in. Council felt that the next step would be to offer the businesses who prepare and sell food a meeting to discuss this together, as well as public consultation.

• “Rental” of property outside employment contracts – there was discussion about the permit form that would form the basis for someone to take on a house, and about the likely costs involved.  This would still need to be approved by the Governor and Attorney General (neither of whom were present for this discussion) but the hope is to launch the scheme soon. It is important to remember that the scheme is aimed exclusively at employees with spouses/long term partners and (where appropriate) their dependant children, who are having to live apart from them because their employers do not offer accompanied terms, so that they can spend some time together, at the employee’s expense, for between one to three months. The scheme will not extend to other categories and is not in any way intended as a substitute for other existing arrangements such as the hotel.

• Councillor Peters was nominated as the Council’s representative to the Overseas Territories Consultative Council in London in December. There would also be a bilateral meeting with the Minister, Chris Bryant. Council discussed the likely agenda items and contributions from this island.

Under Any Other Business (AOB) there was a discussion about whether the Two Boats Sports Field could be made available for football and cricket games, following a decision by the RAF to close the sports facilities at Traveller’s Hill to the general public. This will be looked into.

The Director of Resources than gave an overview of the AIG’s current financial situation:

Revenue – this is slightly above what was originally budgeted for as a result of income from offloading the BBC charter ship that brought materials to the island in preparation for the wind turbines that the BBC will be installing at English Bay in early 2010. Some of this has had to be spent on essential equipment for operating the port and offloading ships, and second hand reconditioned units were bought.

Expenditure – across the AIG all departments were working hard to contain expenditure and all were on target.

Capital – this year’s capital programme is very small compared to previous years because of the overall need to save money and because of the pressure on the dwindling cash reserves (from which asset replacements and major works are meant to be funded). The few projects we have this year are underway.

External Audit of Government accounts – this was proceeding well and was nearly complete.

The meeting ended at 6:50pm.

Ross P Denny

Administrator

20 October 2009