Peter Watson said he ‘fully agreed’ with Economic Development president Sasha Kazantseva-Miller, who told the latest Guernsey Press Politics Podcast that the States was hamstringing the agency’s mandate, funding and authority.
‘The Guernsey Development Agency was established by the States of Guernsey without land, without a workable commercial mandate, and without the authority required to carry out that mandate,’ he said.
‘In its current form, the GDA is not a development agency as commonly understood. It functions merely as a government quango providing advice to politicians.’
Mr Watson resigned as chairman 18 months after the agency produced an ambitious strategic vision for the Bridge in 2024. He said at the time that it had been set up to fail and strangled by process, and called for it to be given more money, land and power.
He said Guernsey had seen countless versions of such bodies over the past 46 years. ‘That endless loop is precisely why the island has failed to move forward on the east coast during this period,’ he said.
‘The GDA is hamstrung by political oversight. It cannot take action without senior members of the States agreeing it is the right thing to do, and in numerous cases it has to go back to the full Assembly just to make basic progress.
‘If Guernsey is ever going to see tangible development, this model has to change. It is time for politicians to show some bravery, but they never seem willing to let go of control.’
The agency was set up four years ago to drive development between La Vallette and Salerie Corner and between Longue Hougue and the Vale Castle. However, the previous Assembly kept responsibility for carrying out projects with the States, in effect the reverse of how such agencies usually work elsewhere.
Deputy Kazantseva-Miller, who sits on the agency’s political oversight group, said the States was ‘overprotective’ of policy levers that could be handed to the agency.
Under new leadership, the agency is now drawing up smaller projects around the Bridge, including waterfront walkways, cycle paths, a sheltered bus station and a family-friendly community area. These were approved by the oversight group in July but still need consultation, business plans, budgets and a States debate before any building.
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