Bring down the walls that slow government

As the Vale Commons Council says: ‘In the final stages of the government of the last four years, we have a snapshot of how not to address a relatively simple and inexpensive problem which requires a prompt decision and effective action.’

Prompt decisions and effective action were scarce in the past Assembly. It was consult, deliberate, debate, investigate and delay.

As with the tank wall and education, such procrastination is often followed by a U-turn and the whole painful process starts again.

The new Assembly must change that narrative. Find a way to speed up government without bulldozing valid objections from islanders.

For only by breaking up the logjam of decision-making can infrastructure projects get off the ground, rapid investment go into the economy and new income streams develop.

If ‘revive and thrive’ is to be more than a slogan the States must make tough calls, prioritise between the nice-to-haves and the must-haves and then act quickly.

There can be no more tank walls where Environment & Infrastructure pats itself on the back for the ‘reasonable speed’ of taking eight months to draw up a maintenance plan only to be bumped by the Vale Commons Council into actually doing something.

How a more can-do approach can be achieved within the current States structure is unclear. The same civil servants are in post with the same regulations, silos and protocols. The only thing that has changed is half of the deputies.

It is asking a lot of the 19 new faces to effect a revolution overnight.

However, if old and new States members can work together and put aside some of the sniping, adversarial politics of the last four years to inject urgency into the whole machinery of government then walls might yet come tumbling down.