More housing is but one fix

If there’s a site available, inevitably the taxpayer chequebook will be opened and the States will acquire it. And then…

Plans have been drawn up for some of the land which the States has bought in the past two years, but no houses built.

Latest to add to that landbank is the long-derelict Braye Lodge Hotel, a site which has been earmarked to provide some 20 homes for health key workers, given its proximity to the hospital?

Only 20? Seems low for such a big site, but the Guernsey Housing Association isn’t known for wasting opportunities on sites when it can grab them.

But time ticks on and staffing pressures, particularly in health, don’t get any easier.

Is anything creative or alternative going to be done to ease this issue, beyond the use of expensive agency staff to fill short-term holes?

Creativity could also be applied to the more than 300 vacant positions for the States of Guernsey. Government budgeted for 5,200 staff in 2022 when it only employed 4,900. Carrying these vacancies, and claiming staff savings as a result, is of no use to anyone.

Can any of these roles be lost? If persistently vacant, they would be in the private sector.