'Short-term' Black Rock plan misses island's strategic needs

Longue Hougue Reservoir – a better site for inert waste?

The Vale's Senior Constable, Richard Leale, said he and douzaine colleagues wanted to draw attention to the inherently limited lifespan of the proposed reclamation scheme at Black Rock (top right in the above photograph) while a more strategically-useful approach would be to dump builders' rubble in the former Longue Hougue quarry, above.

"Having listened carefully to the presentation given to the douzaine on this by Guernsey Water and the Environment and Infrastructure Committee, what struck me and other douzeniers is the element of haste in these expensive and complex proposals."

Planners have given E&I a three-year window in which to stockpile inert waste at the former Longue Hougue reclamation site, which means the race is on to find an alternative area to dispose of it. As a result, the "solution" is to seek permission to impound the rocky area around Black Rock in front of the Vale Castle and tip it there. In turn, Guernsey Water plans to use Les Vardes Quarry as another water storage facility.

"What emerged from our question and answer session with the States is that Black Rock has a design life of 12 years, possibly a bit longer, which we felt is not a long time in the scheme of things," said Mr Leale, "so this will be coming back to the States in the near future.

Strategic
"It was also clear from our questioning – and a look at the aerial photograph – that filling the former Longue Hougue quarry and converting it into useful acreage in the centre of the island's industrial heartland makes far more strategic sense for the island as a whole."

He said this was acknowledged by those States members and officials present at the presentation, but it had been dismissed on timescales and for some other reasons, including getting Les Vardes ready for water storage.

"As a douzaine we don't challenge any of that but the fact remains the island is missing a strategic opportunity because of a shortage of time that the States has created for itself by not tackling this earlier.

"I think it's fair to say from the discussions, our main concern is that the view from the Vale Castle will be changed forever and turned into a complex of around 300 homes but won't of itself solve the problem of inert waste for more than a dozen years. This seems very short-term and we wanted to highlight our fears on this point."