Ascension : INFORMAL ISLAND COUNCIL MEETING
Submitted by The Islander (Ascension Island Government) 29.01.2009 (Article Archived on 12.02.2009)

An informal session of the Island Council was held at the Residency on Tuesday 20 January, chaired by H.E the Governor. Informal council sessions are held from time to time to allow wide ranging discussion on issues and to prepare the ground for the formal session.

INFORMAL ISLAND COUNCIL MEETING

HELD AT THE RESIDENCY, GREEN MOUNTAIN

20^th January at 09:30 am

An informal session of the Island Council was held at the Residency on Tuesday 20 January, chaired by H.E the Governor. Informal council sessions are held from time to time to allow wide ranging discussion on issues and to prepare the ground for the formal session. A further informal session will be held next month when all Councillors are back from Christmas leave. That will be followed by a formal session which will be held on Tuesday March 3^rd at 0930.

Councillors updated the Governor on their recent meeting with John Hayes, the Finance Tax Adviser who has been doing some work for the St Helena government. They found this meeting very useful and there are plans to engage him to look at Ascension Island’s income tax system.

We also talked about entry permits and restrictions on visitors taking up temporary employment. Anyone wishing to take up employment must have a work permit and a proper contract. Apart from being a legal requirement it is important for the employee’s protection that they have a proper contract. To clarify doubts on the rules on visitors, copies of the ordinance would be circulated to councillors after the meeting.

Councillors put forward suggestions for providing a basketball net at the Two Boats playground, and for installing a public toilet at the pierhead. Both of these ideas will be considered by the Finance Committee as part of their work on the budget.

Concern was expressed about the state of the Exiles Building and the Red Lion, both of which were important parts of the Island’s heritage, but falling into disrepair. What should be done about this? Attempts in the past to secure money from the lottery fund in the UK had failed as this only looked at projects within the UK. A recent expression of interest for developing the Exiles Building has been received and this was encouraging, though whoever takes these buildings on would face heavy expenditure to make them usable. We need to explore all possibilities for obtaining external finance to repair and preserve these important buildings. This will be discussed further.

The possibility of a crèche was discussed and while this seemed a good idea it was felt that it should be provided by the private sector rather than Government.

It was noted that the 22% fuel surcharge applied by Andrew Weir Shipping to fares and freight charges on the RMS had not been reduced following the recent reductions in fuel prices worldwide. The Governor said it was very unlikely that these costs will be reduced given the increasing overall costs of running the RMS, and that the ship would need to go into dry dock on three occasions by the end of 2010.

Councillors then moved onto some of the ongoing agenda items:

Following the detailed input to the draft Constitution that Councillors had made on the last visit of the Constitutional Review Team, it would be helpful and timely if the team could make a further visit to Ascension in March during which public meetings would be held. This could include a meeting with the Court Users Group so the legal elements of the Constitution could be discussed. In the meantime some explanatory information is being offered to the Islander for publication and copies of the draft Constitution are available for anyone that would like to see it, from the Administration offices.

Councillors briefed the Governor on their thinking to date on the Cooper Report into the structure of government. The author of the report has been invited to return to Ascension to go over the report with Council to answer questions that had arisen, and to seek feedback on Council’s developing thinking. There has inevitably been speculation and rumour about what the Report may mean and I would like to stress that this is being looked at thoroughly and sensitively in Council and that there are no preconceived ideas.

Central to discussions on AIG’s finances was the question of the unresolved dispute with the MOD over their property tax. This is only being paid at 50% of the assessed rate which means that there is very little money to cover the provision of services let alone meet capital requirements such as the badly needed replacement harbour crane, or the projects that Councillors would like to be able to take forward for the taxpayers. Ultimately those who use the island must meet the cost of doing so which includes providing services to those it brings here in support of their interests. Council will consider the next steps.

On the question of petrol supplies post 2010 it was noted that the MOD first gave notice to the island in 2005 that they would not bring petrol ashore after 2010, and this was brought to the public’s attention by a notice in the Islander. People are aware that petrol will no longer be available from next year but will probably welcome an update and some background to the decision. The tank at Catherine Point that stores the petrol is getting old and there is a possibility that it may not pass the safety inspection due next month. If it doesn’t pass, it would require costly repairs. If it does pass, the MOD have said that they might be able to continue to bring petrol to Ascension but this would have to be on a full commercial basis as the MOD no longer need to bring in petrol for themselves. It had been hoped that an extension of the deadline to 2012 might be possible but we now understand from the MOD that this will not be. So for now the possibilities are that petrol will no longer be available on Ascension from next year, or if it is, it will be dearer than now. We will stay in touch with the MOD on this issue.

Other business discussed included seat belts and the feeling was that these should be made compulsory. It is hard to imagine any good argument against this, and the clear evidence is that seat belt use saves lives and prevents injuries. Still on road safety issues the wider use of breathalysers to prevent drink-driving accidents, which are still tragically too common on Ascension, will be discussed with the police.

The meeting ended at 1210.