THE Planning department came under heavy fire last night at the Deputy hustings in St Brelade No 1, with parishioners and candidates alike attacking recent developments in the parish.
Next week three newcomers will battle it out for one seat in the district, left vacant following Deputy Sarah Ferguson’s promotion to Senator last month.
It was standing room only as more than 100 parishioners packed into the parish hall to question Alan Beadle, Angela Jeune and Mark Sutton on a range of issues. Topics including GST, income support and tourism were all raised, but a number of the 20 questions had a planning theme, with the trio being quizzed on their opinions of developments at Portelet and Mont de la Rocque.
Parishioner Andrew Thompson asked what steps the candidates would take to ensure that green fields in Jersey remained green.
Mr Beadle, who is semi-retired, said that St Brelade was too small to keep building on and that green fields in the parish needed protecting.
Mr Sutton, who owns CMS Ltd Garage at La Moye and serves in St Ouen’s honorary police, said that he had driven along the district’s boundary and had seen just four fields left. ‘What we have left we have to fight for,’ he said.
Mrs Jeune, a registered nurse, said: ‘We need to keep our farming industry going if we want to keep green fields. We need a zoned area to support our farmers and keep a lid on the Planning department.’
Margaret Holland-Prior asked whether the three candidates had attended the forum for St Aubin in January and how they would carry forward the work that the community already did.
Mr Sutton said he did not attend as he did not know it was happening but said that he was against landfill and believed strongly that St Aubin should be ‘kept as it is’.
Mr Beadle shared this view, but said he had not attended the event either.
Mrs Jeune said she did attend some of the meetings about it but was out of the Island for the actual forum. She agreed that the area should stay as it is.
What the candidates would do if elected was another popular issue, with a number of questions based on this theme, including one from Senator-elect Ferguson about whether they would serve on Scrutiny. And Christopher Davey asked which of the three would seek ministerial office if they were successful in the election.
Mrs Jeune said she would do whatever job she was given, though she had skills in health. ‘As somebody coming in new, I wouldn’t be looking for ministerial office,’ she said.
Mr Beadle also said he would not ‘jump straight in’ to be a minister. ‘Like an apprentice, you have to learn your trade,’ he said, adding that he would eventually like to work in planning to ‘sort out some of the mistakes Senator Cohen has made’.
Mr Sutton said he could not answer until he was in the States, but he did say he would be best suited for Transport. He said that he would love to ‘get my hands on the traffic office and their ridiculous régime’.
Asked by the chairman of St Aubin’s Residents’ Association, Rob Jones, whom they would back for Chief Minister, Mr Beadle said Senator-elect Ian Le Marquand would be a good candidate, though he felt the position was likely to go to Senator Le Sueur.
Mr Sutton said that once the elections were over the States needed to look at who was most qualified to represent Jersey on a worldwide stage. ‘Nobody stands out at the moment,’ he said.
Mrs Jeune said that with only one name currently in the hat there was not actually a choice, adding that it needed to be ‘someone statesmanlike’. ‘We have had enough kicks in the teeth recently,’ she said. ‘We need someone who is going to make us look good.’
• Picture: Questuioner Denise Waller. Picture by David Ferguson (00601594)
Article posted on 18th November, 2008 - 2.53pm
