Parishioners will have say on road widening

PERMISSION will not be given to Public Services to widen L'Hyvreuse without the parish first holding a public meeting, the dean of St Peter Port Douzaine has confirmed.

Rupert Evans said parishioners would have their say on PSD's proposals to permanently widen the road as part of resurfacing work.

The department has submitted plans to Environment but admitted the douzaine had to approve the proposal if it was to get the go-ahead.

Residents of the road, which runs along the edge of Cambridge Park, reacted with fury to the idea, saying it was unnecessary and questioning PSD's claim that it would be more economical to widen the road permanently to make it easier for future maintenance work to be undertaken.

'I do not know what the views of the other douzaine members are, but I would be reasonably certain that there would not be any question of parting with parish land without there being a public meeting,' Mr Evans said.

An alternative idea was to temporarily widen the road while resurfacing work took place. But PSD said that, at an estimated cost of between £20,000 and £30,000, it was uneconomical - it would rather spend about £50,000 to widen it permanently.

The department said the road had to be widened to allow for tightened health and safety regulations that have been brought in since L'Hyvreuse was last resurfaced almost 30 years ago.