GST will be a sideshow if we don’t get serious problem of housing right – Inder
‘HOUSING, housing, housing’ was the biggest issue facing the island at the moment, said Economic Development president Neil Inder, who decried how politicians would ‘get their colouring crayons out’ to interfere with planning policy.
During his latest update to the States he referred to what he said was one of the island’s worst kept secrets, in that a planning application for the development of Leale’s Yard in the Vale was imminent.
The committee was pleased to see this progress and he urged the applicants and the Development and Planning Authority to work together ‘at pace’ to enable the development to be delivered.
But a question from John Gollop led to Deputy Inder’s comment about political involvement in the planning process.
The former DPA president wanted to know if Economic Development was working with other committees to ensure a mixture of community centres, environmental space, aspirational and social housing, and possibly office space and retail development.
This was a job for planners, said Deputy Inder, who had seen an outline of what could be coming forward.
‘I don’t like the idea of politicians just getting their colouring crayons out and deciding they want a community centre in that corner, trees in that corner and the height of buildings.’
He hoped that the DPA would make a quick decision for the betterment of the island, he told its president Deputy Victoria Oliver.
‘Our single biggest issue in this island is housing, housing, housing.
‘If we don’t deliver that I can tell you now we are looking at managed decline.
‘It’s as serious as that. GST will be a sideshow.’
The issue was having an impact on recruitment, he said, with a lack of housing for new staff contributing to the struggle of many businesses to recruit staff over the last year.
He later said that politicians should keep out of any plans for the development of Town, after Deputy David De Lisle asked what efforts had been made to monitor spending of nearly £300,000 over three years to boost retail, when many were disappointed with the results.
Deputy Inder replied that the money was committed to the retail sector and it was up to it to deliver a retail strategy, and that if Deputy De Lisle had any concerns he should take them with the Guernsey Retail Group.
Deputy Inder also used his update speech to warn of the potential impact on the island of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
‘Guernsey does not live in glorious isolation,’ he warned, noting the price of oil, gas and other commodities were at a record high and that would affect all aspects of islanders’ lives as the cost of living rose.
No Russian citizens subject to international sanctions were on the list of owners of aircraft held by 2-Reg, the locally-based aircraft registry, he added.
The registry’s strategic technical partner SGI Guernsey had committed to underwrite the recruitment of additional staff both for the office of the registry and for the office of the director of Civil Aviation.
A candidate had been offered the position of pan-island director of Civil Aviation and details were under negotiation.
Future policy letters that would come before the Assembly this year included a ‘human capital development plan’, the business case for the extension of the airport runway, and a report on improving the tourism product.
