But Policy & Resources president Lindsay de Sausmarez has assured the Alderney States that the project remains one of Guernsey’s highest priorities and the Alderney options, both costed within a £24m. price guideline, could be of some use further down the line. The States of Guernsey will formally write to Alderney this week with a response to the options it presented back in July.
‘This project has been given the highest priority, it’s being fast-tracked, we could not be throwing more at this project,’ Deputy de Sausmarez said, speaking on Riduna Radio at the weekend on a programme hosted by the island’s two female States members, Veronica Taylor and Jeannie Cameron.
While she said that the proposals were ‘useful’, the project was at a different, technical stage.
The two Alderney politicians claimed their solutions were ‘solid and deliverable’ and reinforced the need for them to be considered a priority.
‘We have prioritised this, all the decisions that need to be made for now have been made,’ said Deputy de Sausmarez.
‘We welcome Alderney being willing to play its part, but I don’t think you need to do anything at this stage.
‘We are working on it but we need to make sure that we’re doing it right.’
Alderney has said its options met all necessary technical standards and were ‘grounded in prior contractor involvement and site knowledge’.
They are based on retaining the existing 877m runway length and widening it to 23m, with air-side works prioritised over land-side upgrades.
Deputy de Sausmarez also updated Alderney listeners on the progress of the latest iteration of the tax review.
She said that the GST-plus package was still being worked up with a view for possible implementation from 2028, while a review of corporate tax and related issues continued.
Deputy de Sausmarez said that she had not supported GST-plus at that time.
‘Even though I understand the pressing need to achieve fiscal balance and raise revenue, I wasn’t personally persuaded that the regressive impact was sufficiently mitigated,’ she said.
‘At the election I think it became clear that there is still lot of disquiet among the community for that package.
‘This term we decided not to throw a spanner in those works in terms of the tax package, continuing to prepare in case it needs to be implemented, while we recognise that the community is not persuaded that we have left no stone unturned and so we’re doing that work too.
‘We have had to hit the ground running – we understand how important it is.’
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