Fermain Beach cafe petition organiser receives an apology
The woman behind a petition signed by nearly 3,000 people in support of the current tenant of Fermain Beach Cafe has received an apology for the way she was treated by the States.
Policy & Resources vice-president Heidi Soulsby and the States’ director of estates Mark Ogier apologised to Andrea Lewis for the hostile reception she received from member of staff when she handed in the petition at Sir Charles Frossard House last Friday.
The conduct of the official who took the petition from Mrs Lewis was described as appalling by witnesses. Mrs Lewis herself said the official was rude and aggressive.
Deputy Soulsby contacted Mrs Lewis after reading in the Guernsey Press about the reception she received and they agreed to meet this week.
‘I wanted to apologise to her,’ said Deputy Soulsby.
‘Communication should have been better and the petition should have been accepted by a deputy.’
Deputy Soulsby did not know the petition was being handed in until after the event.
Her role on P&R includes overseeing property services, the department which put the beach cafe out to tender at the beginning of April together with a suggestion that it could be redeveloped into a two- or three-storey building.
The petition called for the current tenant, Belmiro de Freitas, who has run the cafe for the past 21 years, to be given the chance to renew the lease and continue operating the site in its current form.
‘It was also good to talk with Mrs Lewis about her campaign and we had a very good discussion,’ said Deputy Soulsby.
‘I appreciate all the work she has put into the petition, which does show the strength of feeling in the island.’
Mrs Lewis felt her meeting with Deputy Soulsby had gone extremely well.
They discussed the way the current tenant had been treated and she voiced her concerns that the bay was now at risk of being over-developed.
‘What came out was we agreed on why so many islanders feel so strongly about this,’ she said.
‘It may seem a small issue in the big scheme of things, but it is still important.’
The location of the beach cafe is within Deputy Soulsby’s former electoral district, the south-east.
She said she had her own views about the future of the cafe and the suggestion that it could be developed, but she felt she could not comment publicly until the tender process had concluded.
Expressions of interest in the lease must be received by the end of today.
Following her meeting with Deputy Soulsby, Mrs Lewis said that as far as she was concerned the matter of how she was treated at Sir Charles Frossard House was now closed.
