Define objectives first

It MUST be clear to deputies that very few of the financial plans to which they agreed have in fact been implemented.

It was emphasised at the time that the economies were to be made by increased efficiency and not by passing costs on to the public as a disguised increase in taxation. Departments have defied the States resolutions by doing just that and claiming credit for making economies which were not due to increased efficiency.

The major part of most budgets is for salaries and wages, which are almost always able to be reduced by increased efficiency without affecting the level of service. In almost all departments, there has been an abject failure to carry out the States-agreed economies and in many there has been an increase in staff and expenditure.

It is now high time to cut out all non-essential expenditure for so-called strategies.

Before we can use the term strategy, there must be clearly defined objectives that can be achievable. No one has yet agreed what these should be for transport and consequently we don't know if they are achievable. Unless these can be agreed, there can be no strategy and the taxpayers are being conned by States members, the civil service, or both, into additional hidden taxation, increased parking and other charges for those who do not themselves have access to free parking, despite already having paid for parking facilities through what was originally defined as road fund tax.

Which of the following possible objectives can command support from the majority of the islanders, the deputies and the civil service members who should be conversant with an analytical appraisal of all foreseeable consequences, and able to define them accurately for all concerned?

1. To reduce delay at peak times. To be defined from a statistical analysis of measured delays. Every authority of comparable size has this peak problem, but very few have such delays as Guernsey.

2. To encourage cycling to:

a) Reduce obesity and health risks.

b) To make roads safer for cyclists, as in almost all areas where there has been an increase in cycling there has also been an increased casualty rate of cyclists and pedestrians, despite the average decrease in road casualties.

c) To slow up all road users at peak times. If this is restricted to areas near schools, it should be so defined.

3. To discourage the ownership of private cars. The extent and reasons should be clearly defined.

4. To make car owners pay for the provision of a bus service. The size and use of such a service should only be defined after a statistical analysis of the present use of private cars being driven on public roads at selected times of the day, at least for the main routes to Town, St Sampson's and the airport.

There should be a clearly defined policy for buses unable to keep to published timetables due to roadworks. At present, most car drivers are able to find alternative routes that are not suitable for buses of the present sizes. If the strategy is successful in reducing the ownership of private cars, what provision will be made for those unable to travel to work?

5. The objectives of the bus service must be clearly defined, together with the procedures to be followed if the objectives are not fully met.

6. The financial implications of a strategy must be clearly defined within stated maximum and minimum incomes and expenditure before any further increase in direct and indirect costs be incurred other than that necessary to assess whether there is in fact a real transport problem that can be solved by the States.

MARTIN SEARLE,

martin.searle@me.com.