Environment & Natural Resources Committee and Highways Authority Meeting – Thursday 18 July 2019

The monthly meeting of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee (ENRC) and the Highways Authority (HA) took place on Thursday, 18 July 2019.

The misuse of the disabled parks within Jamestown was discussed during the HA meeting. It has become apparent that able bodied members of the public are using appropriately marked disabled parks. Information will be published to ask members of the public who are not holders of disabled parking permits issued by the Health Directorate, to refrain from using these disabled parks.

The walkthrough of Jamestown by the Committee as part of the Jamestown Parking Review commenced on Thursday, 11 July. At this meeting members discussed their findings and recognised the difficult task ahead in creating additional parks in Upper Jamestown. Some realignment of parks and establishing ‘no parking’ areas would create several additional parks. It was also noted that the open drains are causing safety issues and it is hoped that funding will be made available to address this issue.

The Roads Inspector informed members that the speed bumps to replace those located near Pilling Primary School have arrived on-Island. They will be installed when some other minor works are undertaken in this area.

During the ENRC meeting, the Burial Grounds Ordinance, 1895 was reviewed and the Committee agreed and approved several minor changes. This will follow the normal process for amending legislation before the changes can be implemented.

The Director of Tourism, Helena Bennett, together with Tourism Manager, Melissa Fowler, presented the Tourism Transport Briefing paper. This paper outlines some changes that the Tourist Office would like to implement in order to have safe operational guidelines for taxi and tour operators, in particular those who offer their services to our tourism industry. The Committee realised that some of the proposals will need to be addressed through legislation, but there are some best practices that the Tourist Office can implement independently with those taxi and tour operators who are registered with the Tourist Office.

Chief Environmental Officer, Isabel Peters, together with the Coordinator of the St Helena Research Institute, Dr Rebecca Cairns-Wicks, provided an update on the policies that will have particular impact on the Institute with work carried out in line with the Environmental Protection Ordinance, 2016. These policies are designed to ensure that research undertaken on St Helena is beneficial and in the best interests of the St Helena community. Additional information was provided as to how the Institute has progressed to date.

There being no further business, the meeting closed at 1.30pm with the next meeting scheduled for Thursday, 15 August 2019.

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SHG

26 July 2019

St Helena Government Communications Hub

Telephone: 22470
Email: kimberley.peters@sainthelena.gov.sh