Guernsey and Alderney must build new relationship
THE fall-out from the debate in Guernsey last week about the rehabilitation of Alderney’s runway needs a period of reflection – in both Alderney and Guernsey. The fact that the decision was made by a decisive 34 votes to five to progress with the rehabilitation of the runway is welcome but not a reason for undue celebration. The Policy & Resources Committee amendment to tie progress on the runway to a wider review of the 1948 Agreement was a misjudgement. But what is also clear, particularly to those of us who sat through all of the Guernsey debates and who spoke to a number of Guernsey deputies, before, during and after the debate, is that there is a strong perception in Guernsey that Alderney wants to have its cake and eat it. It is also clear that Alderney might be making its own misjudgement if it was to rely only on the support and emotional backing from the many Guernsey politicians who care deeply about the relationship between the two islands.
For the foreseeable future, we in Alderney are going to have to recognise how vulnerable we are because of our economic frailty. The rational (and sometimes irrational) arguments of those who hold the purse strings will continue to be made. It must consequently be our job in Alderney to ensure that the messages that come out of both Alderney and Guernsey are indeed both rational and realistic.
From the Alderney perspective, a case in point concerns our attitude towards ferry services. The recent calls by some in our community for year-round subsidised services by large boats (including to the UK) have been a godsend, seized on by those in Guernsey who like to portray us as fiscally irresponsible. Those of us in Alderney who have researched the case know that the cost would be high, the level of service would be far below that provided by our air links – unacceptable to most of our visitors and residents, and the passenger numbers (except in summer and assuming we are able to retain our air links – and God forbid we be unable) will be low.
Bruno Kay-Mouat, who has provided 50 years of shipping services to Alderney, accurately described the idea on radio as ‘madness’. Those in Alderney who have been promoting this idea have, to date, been unable to provide any kind of credible business plan. There are, of course, those in Guernsey who have seized on the idea – but they know that the only way that our connectivity problem might be solved using ferries would be to offset the cost by closing down our air links. And although I am not convinced – yes, if this were to happen, the cost of providing connectivity to Alderney just might be less than it is now. But, stop, at what cost would this be to our economy? I dread to think.
So where do we go from here? From both the Alderney and Guernsey perspectives, the one perhaps unexpected windfall that came out of last week’s debate has been a belated recognition from Guernsey’s P&R Committee that any re-examination of the 1948 Agreement would focus on ‘a holistic understanding of the economic and fiscal linkages between (our) islands’.
So let us be realistic, let us be rational and let us use this as a starting point for building our new relationship. Might we, for example, now put together, with Guernsey’s help, a joint economic development plan – one that saw Alderney as complementing, rather than competing with, economic activity on Guernsey?
A strong Alderney economy will be in the interest of the whole of the Bailiwick – and realistically, we will not achieve this while at loggerheads with Guernsey.
Last week a number of Guernsey deputies spoke, outside the chamber, of two alternatives – either closer political union or complete independence. Their view was that Alderney’s independence, if we wanted it, must be at both the political and economic levels. The alternative might be continuing financial dependence without political independence.
This to my mind is a rather unpalatable choice, but treading the middle ground may not be possible for too much longer.
In the short term, our real hope lies in working together with Guernsey on that common, but still elusive, complementary way forward. In the longer term, if we are sensible, we may have tidal power, goodness knows what other riches from our seabed and a thriving visitor economy. And when (and if) this comes to pass, I hope that we can be kind to a Guernsey that has been kind to us when we needed it.
JAMES DENT.