About a dozen parishioners gathered at the first Vale douzaine surgery in some five years on Saturday morning, demonstrating a keen interest for such informal meetings to continue in their parish.
Vale douzeniers, Deputy Liam McKenna, a Vale parishioner, and community police officer Alex Moore heard and discussed concerns about major development plans which seem to be targeting the North, youngsters and the state of the roads.
‘There is no majority in the Vale for large-scale developments in the north of the island,’ said douzenier Ollie Goddard, who is leading the re-establishment of the meetings. ‘There isn’t a problem with housing. We have over 600 empty flats in Town, 200 empty houses in the island, and over 200,000 sq. foot of empty office space.
‘I have counted over 70 empty houses in the Vale personally.
‘Things could be done right now, if the interest was there, instead of building brand new houses or big multi-million pound developments. But there doesn’t seem to be any will behind that.
‘The States says it is all about recycling and looking after the environment, but building brand new houses, when there’s no need for it, is not green – it’s the opposite of green, and people in Vale have told me that they don’t want to live in the next Hong Kong, in a concrete jungle.’
An idea that seemed to reach a lot of agreement was to heavily tax all the empty properties – whether they are commercial, office, residential or derelicts – to encourage owners to either sell, or do them up and rent them out.
‘Or if you want to pay tax to have an empty building – fine, that tax would raise millions which could then be used for locals – to help get youngsters a trade, anything.’
Parishioners shared island-wide concerns that their own children will leave the island, no longer able to afford local housing.
But, in the meantime, the need for more youth activities was emphasised. An initiative to restart a youth cafe that used to run on the Bridge was raised.
‘Youngsters are hanging around with nowhere to go,’ said Mr Goddard.
‘Kids clubs or something around the Bridge would be a great idea. We have also discussed the potential of introducing special constables to the area, and restarting the Neighbourhood Police Team.’
Increased traffic, weeds and potholes, were also raised at the meetig but were island-wide issues, Mr Goddard said.
‘It’s great to have these meetings,’ he added.
‘It’s a small group, but I’d like to get more people interested in their parish, because then we can get them pulling together. We’re back and we’re going to be here every month for the next five months or so. Please join us.’
The next surgery session is planned for Saturday 25 April.