Alderney residents to be consulted on the future of wartime sites

ALL Alderney households are to be consulted about plans to safeguard the island’s Second World War heritage sites.

The States of Alderney is to consult all of the island’s households about plans to safeguard its Second World War heritage sites. Pictured at Sylt concentration camp are, left right, Gilly Carr, Alderney President William Tate, Lord Eric Pickles, Alderney States Member and chairman of the Policy and Finance committee Bill Abel, and Sally Sealey of the UK Holocaust Memorial Foundation. (Picture supplied by David Nash)

The views of residents, some of whom were involved in the evacuation of the island in 1940 and the Homecoming in December 1945 after the Occupation, will be fed back to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, which has made a number of recommendations for ways to preserve understanding of the wartime period.

These recommendations, outlined at a public meeting in the island in July, will form part of a questionnaire sent to islanders.

The States is concerned that many would have been unable to attend the public meeting and it is keen to get views across the whole island community.

‘This is a very sensitive matter for many people on Alderney and some very real concerns were expressed at the public meeting,’ said Ian Carter, deputy chairman of the Policy and Finance Committee.

‘So it is only right that we give everyone the opportunity to express their opinion before any decisions are made.’

The questionnaire will be issued in the early autumn.

The IHRA said it always looked to achieve its objectives through consultations and partnerships, not only with the States and local people, but also with its permanent international partners and other heritage organisations. But islanders’ views were paramount, it said.