£1.1m. to assess and £45m. to extend inert waste site
DESIGNING an extension of the Longue Hougue reclamation site for inert waste, including an environmental impact assessment, will cost about £1.1m., the States was told yesterday.
If it goes ahead, it is now estimated the project will cost £45m., up by £15m. on what the Assembly was told in December.
Peter Ferbrache, president of the States’ Trading Supervisory Board, updated members on progress following a direction for it to investigate other potential sites.
The work followed a joint policy letter from STSB and Environment & Infrastructure.
An extension to the existing site was identified as the preferred option out of a shortlist that had been put forward, but an amendment told the board to find a second option from the list and report back.
This was likely to cost about £200,000 and the project team revisited the options, including Les Vardes Quarry. But this was only ever regarded as a potential medium-term option as it is already safeguarded for water storage in the long-term.
Three others, including much smaller quarries and a new site north of Mont Cuet, were considered.
While extending Mont Cuet was a possibility, it would require greater engineering and would cost a lot more than extending Longue Hougue.
Ultimately only two small quarries were likely sites for a short-term solution, but once they were filled Longue Hougue would still be the best site on which to continue.
P&R declined funding for an EIA on the two quarries, however, and as a result it was felt that the STSB had done all that it could to fulfil the States’ directions.
‘A detailed EIA of the Longue Hougue south extension is costly, but necessary,’ said Deputy Ferbrache.
It would be a ‘poor use of taxpayers’ money’ to spend £200,000 on looking at smaller sites that were not likely to provide a satisfactory solution.
So a detailed design and an EIA only on Longue Hougue south extension would press ahead. It would take two years and cost ‘up to £1.1m.’
The STSB would then come back to the Assembly to report its findings and seek approval for the work to go ahead.
Final costs for this work would not be known until detailed research is carried out, but he estimated that it would be in the area of £45m.
Even with this revised estimate, up from £30m., the STSB was sure that this was the best way forward, he said.
He referring to a suggestion from deputies Neil Inder and Barry Paint that land at St Peter Port Harbour be reclaimed.
This was something that was more appropriate for the Seafront Enhancement Area Group, and the two deputies were due to make a presentation to that group, said Deputy Ferbrache.
