All attempts to help first-time buyers fail

NEEDS of first-time buyers dominated yesterday morning's population management debate.

But while there was much sympathy, members did not agree to any of the attempts fundamentally to amend the population management report to help this sector, believing that it was the wrong mechanism to use.

But there was a rare success for an amendment later in the afternoon when Deputy Scott Ogier steered through a proposal that the Policy Council investigate revoking employment permits for persistent criminals who had not been jailed.

Both Deputies Roger Perrot and Laurie Queripel led unsuccessful amendments that centred on protecting property on the local market.

But Deputy Queripel, pictured, was successful with an amendment that slightly changed one of the 45 propositions from the Policy Council that means it retains the power to introduce restrictions if there is evidence of problems with a certain sector of the housing market.