A somewhat underwhelming update on progress from the president of the Environment & Infrastructure Committee this week seemed to unearth three things.
The committee has an enormous mandate, one which is more important for Guernsey’s future than we appreciate
Given its responsibilities for roadworks, traffic ‘improvements’ and the still contentious issue of net zero, it remains something of an Aunt Sally committee.
And the committee appears to work at such a funereal pace, if people aren’t frustrated by what it’s doing, they’re frustrated by what it’s not doing.
A politically well-timed revelation back in May that it was about to fix the issue of noisy vehicles (cue loud applause island-wide) turned this week into the revelation that E&I and Home Affairs have still to arrange a meeting – but they will be able to use Bailiwick Law Enforcement’s sound meter to do some tests.
This committee has a PR problem. Its bigger-picture work – and there appears to be plenty of it – seems to be tied up in treacle, and the day-to-day ‘business as usual’ winds too many of us up. It needs to show that it is genuinely making progress on fuel importation and storage, energy policy, the marine environment and better transport. There appears to be an obsession with being evidenced-based, and rightly so. This evidence is that it needs to put its foot down a little harder.
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