Team’s diagnosis of Sark ‘will be like a trip to the doctors’

Architect Ben Bolgar is part of the team coming to the island looking to produce a long-term plan for the island’s future.

‘We start by listening, which is quite unusual,’ he said.

‘A lot of people in our sphere have a preconceived idea, and they convince people of their idea, but we describe the processes as a little bit more like going to visit the doctor.

‘By listening to people and taking the temperature we understand the place from their perspective, because they obviously know it incredibly well and we don’t.’

Mr Bolgar is the senior director for The Prince’s Foundation, a fellow at Oxford University, and was part of the team that visited the island in December 2021.

‘My first impression of Sark was quite literally an incinerator, and then after a rather beautiful walk up a lovely lane to an electricity generator,’ he said.

‘Obviously I’m part joking, but it did feel quite polarised.

'You turn one way and it’s quite idyllic, and then the other and there are quite dilapidated buildings.’

Four representatives of the foundation will be in Sark next week to listen to islanders' views and assess the feasibility of producing a long-term plan for the island’s future.

They will consider the tenants of sustainability – the natural world, the social makeup of the islands, financial aspects, and the physical fabric of the islands infrastructure and buildings, before compiling a report which they hope to have published by July.

Mr Bolgar has been involved with the Prince’s Foundation since 1988, and has worked on an array of projects across the world including on other islands.

‘We actually created a series of island plans in the Galapagos,’ he said.

‘They were codes for the islands to help them to become more sustainable because they were actually suffering from cheaper tourism. Many of these plans were successfully adopted.’

The Prince’s Foundation was established by King Charles to support people to create communities.

It was inspired by his philosophy of harmony – that by understanding the balance, the order and the relationships between ourselves and the natural world, it is possible to create a more sustainable future.

The foundation is hosting a public event in Sark on Monday evening of Monday, as well as smaller, focused workshops, and an open drop-in session for anyone to go along and share their views.

About 500 people live in Sark, a self-governing island which is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Tourism is its a major industry, with the population doubling during the summer.

But the island also faces many challenges, such as expensive electricity bills, affordable education and minimalist healthcare available on-island.