Give people something to respond to

In 2013, Public Services laid out its master plan. It was a 100-page document that set out a 25-year strategy for St Peter Port and St Sampson’s ports.

Its conclusions were based in part on three rounds of consultation. As it said at the time, ensuring community engagement was essential if the island was to back its vision.

Five years on, the States is again promising to put islanders’ views at the heart of plans to redevelop the eastern seafront.

It can expect some justifiable cynicism in the public response.

The Ports Master Plan talked to commercial operators, held stakeholder focus groups, workshops and public drop-in sessions.

It culminated in a two-day exhibition at Beau Sejour attended by about 80 people.

And what then? In the words of PSD, ‘A lot of ideas were collected and considered. Where appropriate, these have been fed into the final version of the Ports Master Plan.’

Where appropriate.

And that is the problem with open-ended consultation. Ask 100 people to draw on a blank sheet of paper and you will get 100 different pictures.

It is then all too tempting to pick out the ideas that the committee had in mind to start with and discard the rest.

It’s figleaf consultation that does nothing except add a veneer of respectability.

The Seafront Working Party is no doubt genuine in wanting public engagement. But for that to happen it cannot be a blank sheet of paper. Instead, lay out the best ideas professional planners can come up with and let the public react.

It’s much easier to get people’s imagination going if they have something to respond to. Some ideas might get slammed but that’s part of the process.

St Peter Port harbour is special. The working party recognise that it is too important to get wrong.

Quality public feedback will help keep it on track. But let’s see some ideas first.