ACLMS is responsible for more than 500 benches around the island. But concerns have been raised recently that a number are in a very poor condition.
There are dozens of States-owned benches on the St Martin’s coastline from Fermain to Petit Bot, some of them identified as being in poor condition.
Parish senior constable Dave Beausire said he had been trying to spur ACLMS into action on the issue.
‘We wrote to them two months ago and again on Monday about the condition of the benches,’ he said.
‘They are in a shocking state, some of them. It’s time something was done about them.’
The parish has several benches it maintains itself, such as the granite bench at Saints Harbour, but the vast majority in the parish are owned by the States.
Mr Beausire said the parish wanted to be part of finding a solution and suggested that perhaps prisoners could help build more benches to replace the ones which had worn out.
An ACLMS spokesman confirmed it did assess which benches needed maintenance each year and tried to do the work in the winter.
‘We work very closely with the parishes and welcome their feedback in relation to the many areas we manage on behalf of the public,’ he said.
‘Recently we have been contacted by one parish regarding the condition of benches. Bench repairs have been carried out by the prison previously and we will be meeting again soon to see if there are more opportunities to work together on this in the future.’
Around 95% of prisoners in Les Nicolles work in some way. This includes producing woodwork items, garden furniture and craft goods for sale to the public and for community groups in the workshop. Benches have been refurbished and made by the prison for more than 10 years.
Some recent benches have included the new ‘talking benches’ at local doctors’ surgeries, and the new benches at the hospital.
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