Overdevelopment, planning and cars feature in final Douzaine Surgery

The informal session at the Douzaine Room largely concentrated on parish issues with a lot of discussion on cars, in particular those parking on L'Ancresse Common and being left in inappropriate places on parish roads because of a lack of on-site parking.

Vale resident Deputy Liam McKenna attended in addition to 10 other guests, with general issues and problems related to the island's Planners and the planning process being aired. It was felt that too often a lack of common sense was being applied, leading to the wrong decisions from the Development and Planning Authority.

The amount of building proposed for the Vale and the North of the island sparked a general discussion about overdevelopment and the feeling that it was wrong to concentrate so much in one area.

Derelict
Problems with derelict greenhouse sites were also aired, because many of them have become eyesores and pose a health and safety risk from flying glass in high winds and if children seek to play in the areas.

More widely, parishioners had strong views on GST, which the States will debate again when members return from their August recess, and concerns about government efficiency and money being wasted.

Douzenier Ollie Goddard, who was one of the organisers of the surgeries and hosted this final one in the series, thanked those who had attended over the last five months and said the trial would be discussed by the douzaine at its next meeting, with a decision being taken on what to do in the future with them.

"Speaking personally, I think they have been useful and certainly I got the strong impression from this latest surgery that those attending wanted to see a well-run States before being asked to may more tax," he said.