‘Shared electric vehicles for new builds’ idea
PROVIDING electric vehicles for residents to share could be one answer to the traffic impact of new housing, the Environment & Infrastructure president told the States.
Lindsay de Sausmarez said that in places where such initiatives had been introduced, the results had seen different kinds of vehicles made available for people to borrow, depending on their needs.
That could mean using a small car for a trip to the doctor, a larger hatchback for a family beach outing, an e-bike to go to the neighbourhood shop or a van to take bulky goods for recycling.
Each shared vehicle on such schemes had replaced the equivalent of 16 privately-owned cars, she said.
‘It is a really efficient system that is worth exploring in the Guernsey context.’
During an extended question time following the statement, issues raised included concerns about the effect of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Deputy Neil Inder wondered what had happened to the committee’s claim last term to be looking at the overall effect of these, following the failure of a requete to ban the herbicide glyphosate.
Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen asked what efforts the committee would make to work with farmers who used large amounts of weedkiller on their land, to move them to herbicide or pesticide-free working practices.
Deputy de Sausmarez said that the committee was working with the Pollinator Project on a five-step action plan which involved herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.
It was called ‘Pesticide Free’ but it was about pragmatic reality, since there was likely to always be a need for these products, but the aim was to reduce their usage and farmers’ dependency on them.
The E&I president also referred to the blue and green economy, and Deputy Andy Taylor asked what barriers there were to investment in the blue – marine – economy that needed addressing.
Information was the key barrier, Deputy de Sausmarez said.
While there was a lot of data relating to the land use, a challenge in the marine environment was that there were lots of competing uses but no high-level strategy because there was not enough data.
A marine spatial plan would give the committee enough information to build new strategies.
A claim that the bus service was ‘haemorrhaging money’ was made by Deputy David De Lisle, who asked what E&I planned to do about the routes that attracted few passengers, such as the P2 parish service.
Deputy de Sausmarez said the bus service use had bounced back after the latest lockdown and she said it was essential to the island.
She had no figures available but would share them when she could.
