States must curb its appetite for 'grand designs'
AS I understand it the schools debate continues and there still is a possibility that La Mare will be rebuilt. I, and many others, believe that the cost of this project is ridiculous, should be completely rethought and I have previously written in to the Press about this and communicated with various deputies.
I know there has been a review supposedly by experts saying that the build cost, in excess of £60m., is acceptable for what has been planned, so I found it interesting to read yesterday that a new academy has just opened in Leeds for just short of 1,600 students built to a very high standard and on a brownfield site, so not the easiest of builds, and the price £28m.
I will repeat, that's £28m. for a much bigger school than La Mare at less than half the price – and if you are interested, look up the Ruth Gorse Academy on the internet.
Perhaps someone from the States can explain the disparity in cost, but I believe it is mainly the fact that the construction industry in the UK is much more efficient than it is on the island, particularly in places like Yorkshire, where I have personal experience of building industrial and commercial properties.
I was born a Yorkshireman and Yorkshire folk are careful with their money and this was where I lived until moving to Guernsey 20 years ago, so it is understandable that I have been appalled at how frivolous the administration has been with the taxpayers' money. Recent events would suggest that in many cases just sheer incompetence – like payments for spoof invoices, legal cases regarding Pfos, the cost of raising an unnecessary loan – have caused many millions to be just squandered away and we have new proposals such as the waste transfer station looking very overpriced. I know for a fact that the shed itself could be built in Yorkshire for around £50 a square foot.
The island must rein in its expenditure and stop these ludicrously expensive projects if it is to survive financially. How this can be done with deputies still calling for grand projects and more and more free services I don't know – and I don't get the impression that the new lot are much better than the last at looking to reduce costs. Nor do I see the new government system with all these presidents and committees coming up with much yet.
We need strong leadership and control over the civil service and their expenditure if they are going to reduce costs because it will require a large reduction in the several thousand people employed by the States. I doubt the present system and the people in it will give us that.
G. M. OLDROYD,
St Martin's.
