Transparency must precede any deal

Golf is a splendid sport, for young and old. £1.33/week extra – £70/year – means approx. 1,154 club members must provide the £80,000/year now requested by the Commons Council. Council also want a much-increased £45,000 grant from we taxpayers. Are these fair requests? More information is needed. How much do golfers pay each year for membership/parking/use of clubhouse, plus the (presumed regular) cost of replacing golf balls lost to gorse/rabbit holes? How much capital is needed for clubs/bag/trolley/shoes? We all spend on our hobbies, but fair or unfair, judgement should be made with some facts. The golfers need to make their case. My sympathy now remains with the council – but I don't understand their finances either.

Of course (no pun intended) golfers expect a long lease. There is no automatic right of lease renewal under Guernsey law. No problem, surely, provided regular (annual?) rent reviews (to cost of living?) are agreed? 10-year 'break' clauses may help the clubs? All are 'the norm' commercially.

So, golfers must pay more. The taxpayer too. Better to negotiate outside the media, but, if our States must pay more, and possibly arbitrate, more information is needed from both sides. The taxpayers/voters of Guernsey must understand clearly all finances involved. To paraphrase a famous judge, when light is shone into the corners, out come many things.

I expect my Castel deputies to be able to explain to me any decisions, based on:

1. Commons Council: Sight of last three years' audited balance sheet/profit and loss account, plus a plan of areas controlled/their (and/or Societe's) eco-management plan. The States/taxpayers/golfers need the light to be shone. Where is £160,000 each year to go?

2. Both golf clubs, ditto. Clubs should also detail numbers of paying members in each year, and split out income/maintenance costs/improvement costs/staffing costs on their splendid (but private) clubhouses and parking areas. Provide a plan of areas controlled plus their eco-management scheme. (Manicured fairways/greens need large, natural areas between – these need 'management').

Openness will lead to fair and sustainable outcomes. The same should, of course, apply to ports/airports/road repairs/tourism (and all other, e.g. ambulance service) budgets. If the States wish to regain/retain public respect then they must earn it. Only then will the public be encouraged to vote in respectable numbers.

More than any other single body, it is our States which must let the light be shone on their finances/actions.

The Commons Council/golf clubs are in focus now – let them light the way.

TONY GRANGE,

Finisterre,

Route du Tertre,

Castel,

GY5 7JH.