Transparency should not be a week late

They form two of the six basic principles of good governance adopted in 2011.

Yet years later anyone who wanted to find out what exactly was happening with the development of the two superschools could not easily do so.

To see the application made by Education to the Development & Planning Authority and understand all its implications islanders had to go in person to Sir Charles Frossard House.

The document is over 400 pages and any searching must be done manually.

An interested parishioner who lives near the Baubigny Schools or Les Beaucamps had to set aside considerable time in the working day to read the document.

They also had to hope that someone else has not beaten them to it.

Education has also held drop-in sessions for concerned islanders who want to ask questions. Again, it is nothing like being able to go over the documents in detail in your own time.

Planning documents should be released online as a matter of course by the planning authority.

It has promised as much in the past, yet failed to deliver.

Where the DPA has fallen down, Education has belatedly taken up the strain.

Yesterday, a week after the application was submitted, Education finally released the architectural plans and traffic impact assessments online.

It also belatedly reset the deadline for islanders to have their say. The original Christmas closing date did not give islanders a chance to consider the implications of two huge pieces of infrastructure.

These are steps in the right direction.

However, it is clear that public transparency and accountability have been afterthoughts, not the first inclination.

Important planning applications such as this should be online in full from the start for all to consider and printed copies placed in douzaines and some public buildings for parishioners who are not on the internet to study.

Only then can it be said to have had proper public scrutiny.