The popular kiosk has been at the centre of a controversial eviction process with the States spending more than £100,000 attempting to evict current tenants Belmiro and Manuela de Freitas, who have run the cafe for more than 20 years.
Deputy Mark Helyar said this was exactly the kind of issue which should always be resolved by political representatives rather than the officers.
‘This Fermain issue is crying out for a sensible, politically-led solution rather than the current obdurate and very costly approach,’ he said.
‘I am surprised that the new Policy & Resources Committee hasn’t taken control of this process which it inherited.
‘I believe a mediation did happen but am led to believe no politician was unfortunately present to supervise.’
The States has spent six figures pursuing the case through the courts, using private sector lawyers to do so.
‘If unnamed government officials have nothing to lose by continuing to pursue litigation – because they are just spending the public’s money, not their own – in order to self-justify their own decision-making, there is unlikely to be any effort at finding a meaningful compromise,’ said Deputy Helyar.
‘It is simply too easy for officials in such circumstances becoming invested in being proved “right” at any public cost.’
The stand-off between the States and the de Freitas family began in April last year after the beach cafe’s lease was offered to interested parties along with the chance to develop the premises into a three-storey building.
The tender was finally awarded to Pearl Oyster, which owns Coco and Lola in St Peter Port, however the couple refused to move out in October and have continued trading all summer.
Despite the States desire to install new tenants for more than 18 months, the Beach Cafe has continued to be listed on their Visit Guernsey website described as ‘internationally-recognised’ and ‘award-winning’.
The next, and probably final, instalment of the case is due to begin in Royal Court on Thursday from 9.30am.
Andrea Lewis, who organised a petition signed by nearly 3,000 people to allow the de Freitases to remain, said she hoped islanders would come down to the Royal Court House to show their support.
‘The more the merrier,’ she said.
‘Anyone who wants to show their support for Belmiro and Manuela I would encourage to come down.
‘I’ll be there, not just to show my support, but as a witness, as when I submitted the petition to the States I was met with such hostility.
‘For someone to put 21 years into a business and find it put out to tender with no first refusal is abhorrent.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.