Not the right time, says deputy of plans to develop east coast

The island’s two most senior deputies – Gavin St Pier and Lyndon Trott – wanted to set up a Guernsey Development & Regeneration Corporation to turbo-charge the plans for leisure, environment and economic revitalisation.

The vision includes creating a sense of fun and joy on the waterfront, a boutique hotel, marine-based renewable energy, unfettered pedestrian access, and better facilities for fishermen and visiting yachtsmen and women.

It would be the largest capital project ever undertaken in Guernsey.

An arms-length body would have been able to operate without some of the sluggish States procedures which can bog down large projects.

A desire for investment has been heightened by the impact of Covid-19, and it is a key strand of the Revive and Thrive strategy.

Deputy Trott opened the States debate with a spirited call to take the big step forward.

‘The east coast is the jewel in Guernsey’s crown, any regeneration needs to be sympathetic and not detract from its beauty.

‘A delicate balance must be struck between investing in modern, fit-for-purpose infrastructure, whilst also respecting Guernsey’s culture and heritage.

‘The seafront enhancement programme has been identified as one of the States of Guernsey’s priority policies, the intention is to produce a long-term development strategy which is a comprehensive plan for investment in Guernsey’s east coast that delivers social, environmental and economic benefits.’

However, the debate on the proposed corporation body came to an early end because, by a slim majority, deputies voted that the idea should not even be discussed because it went beyond the remit of policy letter protocols.

Instead the debate considered the original proposals, which were lodged before the pandemic and were less bold.

Deputy David De Lisle said he did not want to see a ‘Disneyland’ created on the Quay between the Albert and Crown piers which would ‘spoil’ the natural beauty, ‘mess’ with traffic flow, and ‘choke’ the retail sector.

He argued that it was the wrong time for huge spending and massive change.

‘We must guard against high-level development proposals at this time, when there is so much uncertainty as Covid races on. This is not the time for high-level proposals for development of the seafront or the Bridge area.

‘We must wait for the fog to lift before spending £1m. on plans that may be totally irrelevant to the future, that’s for another day.’

Deputy Dawn Tindall expressed disappointment that her committee, the Development & Planning Authority, had been ‘ignored’ during the build-up to the big project.

She also lifted the lid on why progress on the scheme, which had been talked about for years, had been so slow.

She blamed poor governance, a lack of accountability, consistency, and the absence of alignment to create a coherent suite of proposals.

The debate will resume today.