More funds helps council with the upkeep of Vale Common
HAVING significantly more funds this year has enabled the Vale Commons Council to maintain the land more efficiently, its president has said.
This year, the council received a total of £50,000 from the two golf clubs that use the land – a considerable amount more than the £100 the clubs used to pay.
The council also received £40,000 from the States, which gives it an annual grant.
‘We have received a considerable amount more and obviously that has given us the chance to spend more on the common in regards to maintenance and up-keep,’ said president Peter Blake.
‘We now have two full-time employees who help with weed clearance, keeping the paths clear and strimming.
‘Before, we only had one and the money we were getting was pretty much spent on wages and we weren’t able to do much else.
‘We are run more like a business now, there is more money involved and we have to show where every penny goes.’
Other projects taken up this year include the gorse clearance, the maintenance of various ponds in the common and ensuring the car parks are well maintained.
It has also been able to support Festung Guernsey, which looks after some of the bunkers along the common.
‘We are now also working much closer with the golf clubs.’
In 2019, the council plans to continue its gorse clearance project, as well as clearance of hottentot fig near Fort Le Marchant.
It also hopes to replace on of the full-time employees, who is retiring.
Mr Blake said the council also hoped to invest in a quad-bike for the other staff member, once he had passed his driving test, to help him carry his tools across the common. The conservation herd would hopefully return and talks would be under way with the Velo Club, which wanted to use part of the common as the mountain bike course for the 2020 Island Games.
The council’s team of volunteers, known as the Vale Rangers, would also continue in their attempts to get people to pick up after their dog.
It is also hoped that new car parking zones will be approved for the Vale Church car park.
In terms of what happens to Mont Cuet when it closes, he said that was for the States to decide.
‘I personally think that we have gone so high that we have lost that area. Eventually, hopefully we will be able to walk over it like you can do at Bordeaux.’
