There's a way to have your say
If and when consultation is genuine, it allows the opportunity truly to have a say and to influence decision-making at the highest levels in government.
Did Economic Development’s decision to go out to canvass the views of industry over the proposed levy to fund the borrowing to enable the development of the Les Ozouets campus influence yesterday’s vote against it? It’s possible.
Did deputies listen when they heard industry say they are being ‘adversely affected by continual tinkering of fees, taxes and levies, which ultimately weakens our competitive position’?
But equally, did they listen when they saw threats that a rise in the annual validation fee to £750, compared to £270 in Jersey, would lead to entities ‘moving to competitor jurisdictions such as Jersey’?
Hyperbolic statements such as this do the cause more harm than good. As has also been seen in the ongoing dispute about new mooring fees in the harbour.
A £30 a week increase – a high-ish average figure – could cause some boatowners to sell their boats, even leave the island completely, or cut costs on safety items, such as life raft and lifejacket servicing and replacing equipment, according to a survey of boaters. ‘More calls on the RNLI can be anticipated as a result,’ Guernsey Ports has been told.
There’s a way to consult, and a way to respond for maximum benefit. It can be easy to judge either wrongly.