Ascension : MEETING OF THE ASCENSION ISLAND COUNCIL, 8th April 2011
Submitted by The Islander (Ascension Island Government) 21.04.2011 (Article Archived on 05.05.2011)

The Ascension Island Council held the first formal meeting of its term, on Friday the 8th of April, in the Council Chamber. The meeting convened at 14:00.

All five Councillors, and the ex-officio members were present. On this occasion we were honoured to have His Excellency the Governor and the Attorney General present in person.

The minutes of the informal meeting held on 8 March were agreed.

The first item of business was to confirm the composition of the Finance Committee. The Governor approved the appointments of Councillors Bendall, Cranfield and Thomas, together with the Director of Resources to the committee.

There were a number of legal issues to cover in this meeting. Two amendments to the Road Traffic Ordinance were required. The first dealt with the notice of intention to prosecute which needed to be more flexible in order to allow the police to do their job. The second was to empower the police detachment to require production of a driving licence, something that is already possible in both St Helena and the UK, but the need for which had been overlooked here in the original legislation. Council recommended that both amendments be made.

The next legal issue concerned the appointment of Justices of the Peace. Under the 2009 Constitution, public servants cannot be appointed as JPs. As Ascension only has a small pool of people from whom to appoint JPs, this can create problems. It was recommended that a list of senior public servants be drawn up, and who would be barred from standing, while more junior officials could be selected, if recommended by the Judicial Services Commission, and approved by the Governor. A list will be drawn up and circulated to Councillors shortly.

Council then considered a proposal for repeal of the Export Control Ordinance. The AG explained that this is now obsolete following the introduction of the Customs (Export Control) Regulations 2010. Council recommended that the ECO be repealed, and this was agreed by the Governor.

The next item concerned a proposed amendment to the law concerning motorcycle licences. Council proposed that the ability to drive larger motorcycles should depend on age, rather than as at present, a period of experience. Council proposed an age restriction of 21 for motorcycles over 250cc. The AG and Crown Counsel would circulate a paper for the next meeting to consider this further.

Council then considered a memorandum on the question of extending the public telephony licence held by Cable & Wireless. The previous Council had raised four points with Cable & Wireless that it would like addressed before this happens. Two of the four points had been addressed, but there were two that required progress. The first of these concerned the broadband limits and prices. The download limit for the Silver Package had recently been increased from 750mb to 1000mb as a goodwill gesture. Further movement on prices would now be complicated by the recent 25% increase in the cost of electricity. But there had been no movement on the possibility of a monthly carry forward of unused allowances from one month to the next. Cable & Wireless reported that they were looking into this as well as some alternative possibilities.

Council then considered a memorandum on personal fish export permits. There was some confusion about how much could be shipped to different destinations, and the fee was very low at £1, which didn’t cover the administration costs involved. It was noted that the limit for personal imports of fish and fish products into the UK had increased from the original 1kg per person. It was proposed that the limit for exporting fish on a personal basis would be increased to 10kgs, for all destinations. In line with this the fee for a permit would be increased to £10 (for all destinations other than St Helena) and to £5 for personal exports to St Helena. Councillors agreed and recommended these amendments be made.

Council was then given an update on work on two important pieces of outstanding legislation. The first, the Child Welfare Ordinance, has now been under consideration for quite a long time. Following the last visit by our shared Social Works Manager, a simplified version of the new St Helena Ordinance was proposed. This would meet international obligations. It required some work still to adapt it to meet the specific needs of Ascension and the AG would take this forward. The second item concerned the need for modern employee protection legislation as the existing law dated back to 1926 and was in need of updating in a number of areas. The AG reported that the legal team were working on a new Ordinance. This will be brought to Council for further discussion.

Council then moved into closed session. This included discussion about progress on the long running tax default problems that we have been facing, and on the review being carried out into possible reform of the financing model for the AIG which should help ensure greater stability, and an avoidance of the kind of problems we have had to deal with. The Governor briefed Council on the position regarding the MOD’s tax debts, which had now been settled. Work will continue in resolving the remaining defaulting case. Council welcomed the news that the FCO had granted £1 million for the purchase of a new harbour crane, and a further £1 million to the reserves for the funding of essential infrastructure items. In addition it was noted that the new commercial fish licence business started under the previous Council last year had so far earned around £800,000. There was no guarantee that there would be this level of repeat business in subsequent years, but it was a welcome start. It is important that at least some of the money be invested into the business to ensure its sustainability, for example through ad-hoc patrols. As the Governor noted in his recent press release about his visit, the new Council is not having to face the kind of crisis situation that the last Council did, but the need for ongoing very careful financial management remains.

There were then a number of issues raised under Any Other Business.

First was a question about whether savings in the Bank of St Helena’s New Life Account could be made tax free. The difficulty is that this would lead to a fall in tax revenue which would have to be made up in other ways.

Concern was raised about the high cost of goods in Solomon’s shop. The Governor said that although the SHG is a major shareholder in Solomon & Co, it was not their policy to interfere with Solomon’s operations. On the question of prices charged on Ascension it had to be noted that overheads here were very high.

There was a request for a water fountain to be installed at the out-patients waiting area at the hospital, and another at the pier head. These were agreed. A request for a metered fresh water line to the boat yard was put forward. This was thought to be costly and will be looked into. Council will be given details at the next meeting.

The question of passport photos was raised. It was difficult to obtain these on island as there was currently no provider. It was suggested that this is an opportunity for the small business sector on the island. The investment was not high and could be recovered through charging for the photos, as happens elsewhere. It was agreed that an open letter be submitted to the Islander encouraging the business sector to take this opportunity on.

Speeding fines then came up. Why do people need to go to court for speeding offences, and why do their names appear in the Islander?  Council was advised that the latter is normal practice throughout the world. The possibility of fixed penalty fines was being looked into and this would be further discussed in the next Council meeting, and discussed with the Court Users Group.

There was a question concerning whether people who lose their driving licence on St Helena should be disqualified from holding one on Ascension. Crown Counsel will look at the relevant legislation and see if there is a case for considering this further.

A variety of other issues were discussed. This included the manner in which speed checks should be carried out by the police, who have a responsibility to deter and detect offenders. Council noted that the new Public Health (Food Safety) Regulations had come into force on 1 April this year and give the Environmental Health Officer powers to carry out inspections of shops, restaurants etc. An article will be put in the Islander to remind people of this and details of who to contact in the event of a complaint about outdated foodstuffs being offered for sale etc. Concerns were raised about the public nuisance created by excessive noise, by some dogs, and by people throwing litter, particularly beer bottles from car windows, suggesting that there needed to be greater public awareness.  The tidiness of public areas was also discussed, particularly around the boat hobby area near the pier head.

Finally the Governor informed the Council that this would be his last official visit to Ascension as he would be coming to the end of his tour of duty and leaving St Helena on 1 July. The island had seen many interesting times, but he felt positive about the current financial position and prospects which pointed to a more stable future.

The meeting was declared closed at 16:40.

Ross Denny

Administrator