and Dr. Leroy Hill
The Factory Shell at the Long Path, on the land where there are plans to build a new campus for the Anguilla Community College, was visited by Mr. Tim Colley, Deputy Director of the Overseas Territories Directorate in London, on Tuesday this week. The visit was in keeping with a series of discussions which the British official had with Government, Opposition and various other persons in Anguilla.
The Community College is one of the proposed and urgently-needed projects in Anguilla, and is aimed at providing higher educational opportunities for an increasing number of young people. At present, approval is being awaited from London for the release of a Caribbean Development Bank loan to build the new campus. In the meantime, an application has been made, through the Governor’s Office, for funding under the Queen’s Jubilee Fund to cover the delivery of a number of technical courses at the College.
Mr Colley told The Anguillian: “I am the head of the team in the UK Foreign Office that is the link between the UK Government and the Governments in the Overseas Territories. I have been in post for 18 months now, and the first project that I was engaged on is supporting UK Ministers to develop their strategies towards the Overseas Territories which led to the White Paper that we produced in June last year. It set out a positive vision for the UK and the territories to work together, in partnership, to build the economies of the territories, the human capital, and to support training and education that I have been talking to the President of the Anguilla Community College about.”
Speaking about plans for Anguilla and the other territories, Mr. Colley went on: “There are many specific priorities for us to deliver on concrete things. For example, we are working to support links between the public service in the UK and the public service here, on opportunities for people to have training and to do exchanges which I think are enormously valuable to people here and in the UK. I am trying to build links between each of the territories and a local authority in the UK. By finding a local authority the same sort of size, dealing with the same sort of problems and building roads and schools, it is a good partnership.
“We have managed to get a partnership organised for the British Virgin Islands, Caymans and, most recently, for the Turks and Caicos with Norfolk County Council – and I would really like to get to the stage where Anguilla has a partnership with a local authority in the UK. We have been doing things to open up training so that public servants in Anguilla have access to the same training as UK public servants, especially the online training that we offer.
“I am here in Anguilla not to talk, but to do lots of listening to people; to understand what the priorities here are and to be able to advise UK Ministers on what the people of Anguilla think. The immediate issue that is on our plate is resolving the issue of agreeing on a set of principles for good financial management [the FFR]. I think that these are principles which everybody should be able to agree with very quickly because this is about Anguilla being able to send out a signal to potential investors, and the outside world, that this is a well-run administration. [It is to show that it is one] where there is due process; no tolerance of corruption, and where decisions are made in a regular democratic way in support of the community.
“I am very hopeful that the Government here will be able to sign the FFR quickly, and the Anguillian Government would then be able to concentrate on the things that really matter such as helping the Community College development plans to get its new building in place quickly.”
Asked whether the approval of the Community College loan was dependent on Anguilla’s signing the FFR, the British official replied: “UK Ministers have decided that it is important not to be any further delay in agreeing the FFR here in Anguilla. We have agreed arrangements with the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos. It is absolutely time for the Government of Anguilla to agree. All the Overseas Territories Governments agreed in London in November to put in place a framework for the sound management of public finances, and I hope and expect that the Government of Anguilla will be able to act in line with that commitment and to agree this very quickly.”
Commenting further on the Community College, and other matters in Anguilla, Mr. Colley said: “I am very glad to have had the opportunity to meet Professor Louden and to see the proposed site for the College. I think this is a really exciting project which offers opportunities for the young people of Anguilla.
“I also had a series of meetings to talk to the Commissioner of Police, the Government Ministers, public servants and members of the Opposition. I am aware of some of the challenges in Anguilla – issues of unemployment and young people. I think it is really important – and UK Minsters think it is really important – to support Anguilla to develop a diverse and successful economy. We want Anguilla to be a really successful place, and building a capacity Community College is a vital part of that, and I think this looks like an exciting project.”
For his part, Professor Louden said that while approval was being awaited from the UK for the CDB loan, which is based on the signing of the FFR, the Community College was pressing ahead with its Technical and Vocational Programme. It is understood that any assistance for this under the Queen Jubilee Fund would not be subject to the conditions of the FFR.
“We are seeking to start off with the Technical and Vocational Programme,” Professor Louden stated. “This includes electrical installation, agriculture and the environment, refrigeration and automotive technology and so forth. Those technical skills are not readily available by training so we have a two-pronged approach. Rather than just sitting and waiting for the CDB funding, in the meantime some preliminary funding from the Governor’s Office would allow us to develop some of these programmes.”
