DPA has kicked me out of key talks, says its vice-president

Other members of the authority have allegedly expelled him from working on the authority’s responses to public representations made on proposed changes to the plan.

Deputy Taylor believed the authority was trying to ‘suppress’ his views because he disagrees with its majority recommendation to allocate several green fields for new housing developments.

He said that despite it being publicly stated that he would be working with the president, Victoria Oliver, to provide responses to the representations made during the plan review, the authority had voted to remove him from the process.

‘I have not hidden the fact that I object to the allocation of green field sites when we already have a significant oversupply of land for housing,’ he said.

‘I accept that in holding this view I am in a minority on the authority, but I firmly believe I have worked constructively with colleagues throughout the review process to date.

‘This latest move raises significant concerns about my political colleagues’ willingness to hear alternative views.’

Deputy Taylor said that States members and representatives of the parish douzaines were told earlier this month that he and Deputy Oliver would review representations to the proposed changes to the plan.

But on Tuesday this week the authority suddenly reconsidered and voted to kick him out of the process.

Deputy Oliver said yesterday: ‘We have agreed that myself and Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller will review the initial representations.

‘This decision was made by a majority of the committee, with Deputy John Dyke absent at the time the decision was taken.’

The fifth member of the authority is Deputy Chris Blin.

Other members of the authority also excluded Deputy Taylor from its panel at a question and answer session which they hosted live on Facebook last week.

He believed he was excluded from that event ‘for the same reason’.

Deputy Oliver insisted there were other reasons for not including him.

‘We were advised that from a production perspective it would be best for the panel to consist of no more than five individuals,’ she said.

‘With a desire to have a couple of officials on the panel to provide technical input, we were required to select three members of the committee.

‘The committee agreed by majority that myself and Deputies Dyke and Kazantseva-Miller would sit on the panel.

‘On the day of the event, due to an emergency, one of the officials was unable to attend, which is why there were only four individuals on the panel.’

In between the question and answer event last week and the authority’s meeting this Tuesday, members of the authority, including Deputy Taylor, attended meetings at which the public were invited to view and discuss proposed changes to the Island Development Plan.

‘It appears that my colleagues on the authority have now taken issue with me highlighting some of the data, which is contained within our own reports, at recent douzaine drop-ins,’ said Deputy Taylor.

‘My different views from the other members have been cited apparently as a conflict, which they say requires my removal.

‘If members of the community want to object to any aspect of the proposals, they will need to provide evidence to support their objections.

‘Given the breadth of data there is, it is wholly appropriate in my view to direct them to the evidence that supports their objections.’

Deputy Taylor’s exclusion has echoes of the Education Committee excluding Andy Cameron from discussions on secondary and further education a year ago, after he voted in the States against the committee’s preferred school model.

Education backed down and readmitted Deputy Cameron to discussions a few weeks after his exclusion was revealed by the Guernsey Press and following a backlash from nearly half of States members.

Deputy Taylor said he would continue fighting against allocating more green fields for housing developments.

He said that land currently allocated for housing could provide about 2,600 new homes and that re-zoning the additional green fields in question would put that figure up to more than 3,000, whereas the States has agreed that about 1,600 will be needed before 2028.