FINN(COM) DAILY RECORD: MONDAY, 07 MARCH 2005

 

Compiled by J. Brock (FINN)

 

 

REPORT OF THE PLANNING & BUILDING COMMITTEE

HELD 3^rd March 2005

 

With two members of the public attending to view the “open” session of this month’s meeting, there was a full attendance by members of the Committee which was chaired by the Hon Richard Cockwell and who was supported by the Hon Norma Edwards, Gerald Cheek, Graham Middleton, Mike Harris, Les Harris and Mike McLeod.

 

In matters arising from the February meeting, there was considerable discussion on the appeal to Executive Council on drainage proposals for Stanley Racecourse.  It was reported that an e-mail had been received from a resident in Jeremy Moore Avenue whose house backed onto the racecourse and who complained that their back garden often flooded.  This, they felt, was due to recent drainage works and asked if the problem could be rectified.

 

The Director of Public Works, Manfred Keenleyside, explained that the new drainage led to water being drained off the racecourse more quickly into the existing ditch, which could not satisfactorily cope with the faster delivery.  This resulted in the problems described which affected nearby properties.  However, it was hoped that, should funding be approved within the Capital Budget, his Department would carry out remedial works to overcome flooding problems in the publicly owned part of the area.

 

Moving on to the nineteen applications before them, seeking planning permission, members agreed to grant consent, generally with conditions, to the following new proposals: retrospectively for a replacement boiler with new stainless steel twin-walled chimney at the Post Office for FIG; also retrospectively for a garden shed built close to the road side at 9 McKay Close for Drew Irvine; a change in the design of the approved fence on its Ross Road frontage at Stanley House for the Public Works Department; the erection of a garage with an overhead electricity cable, also off-street parking, at 24 James Street for Peter and Marilyn Finlayson; and a new dwelling at 4 Hansen Hill for Martin Carey.

 

There was also a number of applications seeking permission in principle and the following were granted subject to standard outline conditions: the erection of a commercial garage at 27 Coastel Road for Peter and Joan Morrison; an extension to their offices on Airport Road for Stanley Services Limited; and the erection of a warehouse on Bill Roberts Way also for Stanley Services Limited.

 

In the case of an outline application submitted by FIG for the erection of a terrace of ten garden sheds at 6 Jersey Road, this it was decided to defer until concerns over fire safety had been resolved with the Fire and Rescue Service.

 

Also deferred was the proposal by South Atlantic Marine Services to construct a yachting marina and car park west of their existing jetty at The Boathouse.  It was reported that a letter of objection had been received from the Museum and National Trust in relation to the Charles Cooper wreck. Also, comments were awaited from the Harbour Master who had only just seen the plans the previous day. Following further discussion, it was decided that a special meeting of the Committee is to be held with the applicant invited to express his ideas to members.

 

Two applications deferred from previous meetings were again deferred.  In the case of a sign proposed to be displayed on Atlantic House by Energise F.I. Limited, more details of the signage were now to hand but members were concerned that the colours were too bright and asked that the Environmental Planning Officer (EPO), Dominique Giudicelli, discuss this with the applicant.

 

With the Dolphin Guest House on John Street, where the FIC Limited sought permission in principle to erect flats and offices, the Committee took note of a petition from members of the public protesting against the demolition of the old stone frontage of the building.  The EPO advised members she had written to Roger Spink and was awaiting his response.

 

There was a number of applications for renewal of temporary planning permission and the following were granted: siting of an ISO container in the south car park of the FIDF HQ on Kiel Canal Road for FIG; Portakabin used for storage of equipment at Plot 18 Lookout Industrial Estate for Keith Heathman; Portakabin used for domestic storage on land rear of 9 Drury Street for Rudy Clarke; Portakabin used as a classroom and temporary office by Cable and Wireless at their Head Office on Ross Road; and a store-studio container for Robin Fryatt sited at the FIDF HQ on Kiel Canal Road.

 

One application for the renewal of its temporary consent was deferred, that of the extension to the quarry at The Frying Pan for Gordon Forbes Construction (Falklands) Limited.  It was hoped that this would be considered at the next meeting following a visit to the site by the EPO.

 

Members then went on to review the report of the Building Adviser, Graham France, on applications for Building Permits. He explained that a number of these were still delayed as the only information received in the case of several new dwellings were elevations, floor plans and proposed siting of the buildings.  Whilst sufficient for “planning” consideration, details of construction and materials were required for purposes of “building control”. He was, nevertheless, pleased to advise that five such Permits had been or were about to be issued.

 

The meeting concluded with consideration of just one application for an off-street parking grant, which was from Peter and Marilyn Finlayson. Whilst it was agreed that the application could be granted, it had to be noted that there were currently no funds available to meet the cost.

 

The next meeting of this committee is scheduled to be held on Thursday 7^th April, commencing at 9am in the Liberation Room of the Secretariat.

 

Graham France                                                                        7^th March 2005

 

Brock: Government ‘competes with media’

 

PN’S CPU REPORT AIN’T NECESSARILY SO

 

By J. Brock (FINN)

 

It’s a pity that the authors and respondents to an article on the front page of the Penguin News on 25 February and in the Letters Page on 04 March did not check things out before publishing.   FINN did not write the CPU report.  A journalism student from Bond University in Australia composed it.  She summarised what everyone said and the remarks attributed to FINN were not encased in quotes.  The author also put her name to the article.  This is standard basic journalism.  Also on my objection list is the attack on FINN when not around to launch a defence.

 

Throughout all of the sessions of the Editor’s Forum and the Biennial Conference, Penguin News and Media Trust were not mentioned once - not once.  When I said the word “government” I meant - and those in the sessions trusted - that the word stood to mean “government.”   I was speaking of the set up of the Portal and not Penguin News and/or Media Trust.  Mentioned was the set-up of the Portal with Government funds and the offer of free advertising on it and a grant to set up web adverts for private businesses on that portal.  If that isn’t government competition, what is?

 

When the portal was set up I was receiving an income from Internet advertising on sartma.com and I lost most of my customers because they opted to get ads for free on the portal.  It is well known that news outlets get most of their revenue from advertising and as such, government, with the offer of free advertising on the portal severely hampered my ability to make money to continue the news service.  Money to set up that portal didn’t come from the tooth fairy.  The idea, motivation and money behind it did not originate from the private sector.

 

It saddens me to see Penguin News, Councillors and Media Trust respond as if I were levelling my remarks at them.  Penguin News claims to be independent, but suffers shrapnel wounds when I broadside government.  Perhaps they are standing too close.  To CPU members and their colleagues, the article on the front page unfortunately tainted Penguin News/Media Trust as a Government entity.  That wound was self-inflicted.

 

As for the press conferences, yes, I have been excluded on more than one occasion.  Ditto for news venues where FINN wasn’t invited.  The most famous one was a reception to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of Falklands Conservation, when PN and FIBS were there by invitation and FINN was not. 

 

Cllr. Cheek was quoted in PN as saying “We do make an effort to invite all the local media.”  At present, this is true but it is the grit from incidents like this that makes those invites happen more often than not for FINN.

 

SOUTH ATLANTIC ISLANDS REPRESENTED AT CPU CONFERENCE

 

By J. Brock (SARTMA)

 

Islands in the South Atlantic are being represented at the Commonwealth Press Union Editors’ Forum in Manly, Australia and the Biennial Conference in Sydney Australia.  Twenty-five individual Commonwealth Countries and British Territories as well as the five British Overseas Territories in the South Atlantic are gathering in order to discuss innovations in publishing, news distribution, ethics in journalism, increasing readership and sharing each other’s successes and how they were achieved.  Territories represented are The Falklands, Ascension Island, and Tristan da Cunha, with reports also being sent to South Georgia and St. Helena.

 

The welcome reception and dinner, sponsored by the CPU, featured remarks by Manly’s Mayor, Mr. Peter MacDonald, who explained some of the Sydney suburb’s history, as well as an intro by Richard Bryce, the editor of The Manly Daily - Manley’s local newspaper.

 

Sessions began in earnest on Sunday morning, when, after a brief introduction by Lindsay Ross, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Press Union, Mr. Tony Gillies, Editor-in-Chief of the Australian Associated Press, presented a multi-media overview of the Australian Newspaper industry.  Tsunami coverage featured heavily at the beginning of this presentation.  He explained the difficulties encountered in getting reporters, photographers and cameramen to the scene and how the Australian press covered Australians that had been in the disaster, how aid to the affected areas was implemented and the lasting affects of PTSD on the survivors.  Besides the Tsunami, he also pointed out the other big stories, such as the war in Iraq, the Olympics and the Federal Election also featured quite heavily in 2004’s press reporting.  To end up, Mr. Gillies explained some of the workings of the Australian copyright law and its inclusion in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and spoke of the work if the Australian Press Council.

 

After a Question and Answer session, The Hon. Bob John Carr MP, Premier of New South Wales, spoke at length about discounting for optimism or discounting for pessimism in editorial content.  He said that during the Cold War, no one could have guessed that the Soviet Union would be replaced by a democracy, or during the 70s that no one saw the banishment of racial segregation in South Africa.  On the flip side, in 1903, no one in Russia foresaw the violent overthrow of the Tsar and the rise of the Soviet Union.  He went on to mention the balance and thorough reporting that it took to decide what approach to take with the news of the day.  It all seemed like predictive prophesy - does one predict doom, or prosperity in the reporting.

 

When asked about the Kyoto Agreement, The Hon. Mr. Carr said that he urged Australians and the Government to accept the Agreement.  He has pledged his support in having New South Wales reach emission standards as if it had signed up to the Kyoto Agreement.

 

Newspaper Websites were then discussed with Keith Perch, Editor and Managing Director of Northcliffe Electronic Publishing in the UK.  His main point was that newspapers with corresponding websites did not suffer an alarming drop in circulation. He pointed out that younger people tended to read the internet rather than use the newspaper but that when people used the website and the newspaper that they read approximately five stories on the website but tended to read the paper from cover to cover.  After the presentation, Helen McCabe, Chief of Staff of The Australian, moderated a question and answer session.  SARTMA’s contribution was that when the cost of printing materials including ink, paper and machinery and spare parts prevented the production of a hard-copy newspaper but that the decreasing communications costs in the South Atlantic lent themselves to online newspapers only.

 

A presentation by Terry Quinn, Editor-in-Chief of APN News & Media in Australia pointed out that newspapers needed to relate to their readers and interact with them.  He stressed that it wasn’t innovation but it was renovation that helped in the readership process.  He then went on to explain the Readers First concept that had proven itself in the United States.  He wasn’t keen to have people’s minds moulded by newspapers but that people should be telling newspapers what they want to read.

 

“Catching Them Young,” included a very colourful presentation by Tony Yianni, Managing Director of the Fiji Times.  He explained the need for a separate newspaper for young people and women and how the newspaper, Kaila was formed.  Being able to distribute the paper to remote islands in the Fiji group was most important to the success of the newspaper because it helped to boost its circulation.  In the space of 20 issues, the paper has 10,000 readers.  Mr. Yianni explained that the readership of the weekly paper would be cut severely if it were just a supplement in a newspaper because even Fiji’s major newspapers don’t get to the remote islands like Kaila does.

 

Thabo Leshilo, Editor-in Chief of Sunday World in South Africa, then spoke about how to launch a major Sunday newspaper. He pointed out that his readership was black and mainly poor.  He had a social conscience and took risks dealing with reporting about deaths due to AIDS but found that his circulation dropped.  For the Sunday World, the answer was to print the social and political issues in the paper but not on the front page.  The Sunday World’s readership was hooked into reading the paper by using sex, drugs, sport and celebrity.  Those sorts of items went on the front page because people who could only afford one paper would buy it.  More important subject matter was also read because buyers tended to read the whole paper.  SARTMA asked whether Mr. Leshilo and/or his staff were able go amongst the readership and search for another “hook” that might draw them in.  Mr. Leshilo didn’t seem to think that was necessary because he and his staff knew the market and didn’t need any more “hooks” to pull in the readers.

 

The day’s programme was informative and useful for a number of reasons.  Firstly, SARTMA has a unique readership but by in large it caters to them.  There might be some fine tuning here and there, but it’s up to the people of the South Atlantic to point out what they want changed in their news media. 

 

In the evening, the delegates went to the Le Kiosk Restaurant at Shelly Beach for drinks and dinner sponsored by Rolls-Royce.

 

Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd (“FOGL”)

Seismic Survey Update

 FOGL announces that it has completed recording approximately 50% of the planned 10,500 km 2D seismic survey in its 83,000 sq km licence areas to the south and east of the Falkland Islands.  90% of the survey to date has been in the southern 33,000 sq km licence area where FOGL (77.5%) is in joint venture with Hardman (22.5%).  The balance of the survey to date has been in the northern licence area where FOGL holds 100% and this is the area that will be the focus of operations in March and April.

A preliminary review of the early processed sections of the lines recorded thus far has provided further information on the 8 leads in the FOGL / Hardman area referred to in the AIM listing prospectus, and has also identified several additional leads which could warrant further work.

 Full processing of these lines will take place over the coming months, while the balance of the survey by the vessel “GSI Admiral” will continue through March and April 2005.  The fully processed and interpreted results of the entire survey are expected to begin to be available about mid year.

 Dr Armstrong, Executive Chairman of FOGL, said:

“Although it is early days, the overall indications from the data we have received to date are encouraging.  We are looking forward to completing the balance of the survey and in due course fully assessing the results of this work.”

 17 February 2005

 Enquiries: FOGL

THE RED ENSIGN CONFERENCE

 

 

The annual Red Ensign Group (REG) Conference was hosted by the Government of the Falkland Islands, at Argos House, Stanley.

 

Mr Jon Clark acted as Master of Ceremonies and invited His Excellency the Governor, Mr Howard Pearce, CVO to address the opening ceremony. He welcomed the delegates to the island explaining that transport by sea is an important lifeline for the Island, primarily for taking wool clip to market and ferrying people to and fro. In recent years the fishing industry has grown and the visits by cruise vessels have now become a regular event. The Falkland Islands Shipping Register is small but plays a significant part in the islands economy. A speech was then made by Councillor the Honourable Richard Cockwell who was pleased to host the REG Conference for the first time. The Red Ensign is a symbol of a well managed ship and he commented on the importance of regulation meeting the individual requirements of the diverse island locations that make up the Red Ensign Group. Stephen Bligh Chief Executive of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency thanked FI Government and Shipping Administration for all the hard work in organising the conference and providing advice for us to all reach such a remote geographical location. He was delighted to chair the conference and looked forward to working together to achieve our goals. Stephen Bligh relayed a message from David Jamieson the UK Minister.

 

In his message the Minister apologised for not attending in person as he has a particular connection with the Falkland Islands through the strong ties developed through his own constituency of Plymouth Devonport. The Falkland Islands shipping fleet is small but vital to the interests and needs of the people with an important role supporting the needs of the British Antarctic vessels. There is a growing tourist industry attracting passenger vessels to these shores, bringing the more adventurous eco-tourist. He paid tribute to all members working behind the scenes to maintain the highest standards for ships flying the Red Ensign. He emphasised the need for being prepared for new challenges and the importance of the Red Ensign Group conference forum for taking forward new initiatives. The Minister was pleased to announce that all members met the 1 July implementation date for the International Ship and Port security Code due to the determination and ability to comply with international standards. He concluded that the REG conference is an important forum to prepare and organise for the tasks and challenges that lay ahead. 

 

The Governor then rang the Millennium Bell to declare the conference open.

 

During the two and a half-day conference the delegates discussed the continuing quality initiatives to improve performance, the Port state role and the implementation of international regulations for environmental protection. The group also discussed the consistent enforcement of maritime regulations and the promotion of policies to improve the conditions for seafarers on board ships. During the conference the Maritime and Coastguard Agency announced the creation of a website which can be located at www.redensigngroup.org. The site provides information about the Group and individual links to the members websites for customers to register vessels in the high quality administrations of their choice.

 

Gratitude was expressed by the delegates for the hospitality provided by the Malvina and Upland Goose Hotels  and the helpfulness of the management and the staff.

 

The delegates unanimously expressed their thanks and congratulations to the Government of the Falkland Islands for the facilities and equipment provided at Argos House Stanley, and the organisation of a social programme for delegates, spouses and guests placed at the disposal of the Red Ensign Group. They were key factors in ensuring the success of the conference.

 

The delegation from Bermuda offered to host the conference in May 2006. All the delegates welcomed this invitation.

 

 

HAVE A GO DAY - PHILLIPS POINT RANGE

 

 

The Falklands Gun Club (FGC) are planning a Have a Go Day at the Phillips Point Range in Stanley on Sunday 27^th February.

 

The day has much to offer for all of the family*.  The following is the main programme of events;

 

Event	Time
Down the Line Shotgun (Trap Shooting)	1000 - 1030
Pistol	1030 - 1100
Black Powder	1100 - 1130
English Skeet (Shotgun)	1130 - 1200
Lunch	1200 - 1300
Black Powder	1300 - 1330
Pistol	1330 - 1400
Down the Line Shotgun (Trap Shooting)	1400 - 1430
English Sporting (Shotgun)	1430 - 1500

 

All firearm’s and ammunition will be available on the range.  For a small fee of £10.00 participants can have a go at any or all of the stands available.  This fee will cover insurance etc as well as ammunition and target fees.

 

There will be a BBQ on the range during the lunch hour and a chance to discuss becoming a member with the club members present.

 

There will also be a raffle held throughout the day drawn at 3.00 pm.

 

*Unfortunately due to Firearms Legislation only persons over the age of 17 will be permitted to fire any weapons

 

Steve Dent

 

FIBS NEWS DIRECT: 07 MARCH 2005