THE Island is under so much pressure to cope with an ageing society that the 2002 Island Plan has been scrapped and is in the process of being rewritten, four years earlier than planned.

It was originally intended to last ten years but the strains on Island services have led to a new Island Plan being drawn up by ministers. The first stage of that process is the release of a 200-page report, obtained by the JEP, which will be released for public consultation next week.

The green paper for the Island Plan 2008 highlights trends in Jersey’s population, revealing that people are living longer, there is a higher proportion of single people and the Island is becoming an ageing society. These factors will cause a demographic shift, says the report, which will have implications on development and the use of land which the new Island Plan, proposed to last until 2018, had to take into account.

The report suggests ways of dealing with the ageing society and decreasing workforce which include increasing the Island’s population, raising the States pension age, having the resident population paying more tax, or increasing growth in the economy.

• The public can comment on the Island Plan Strategic Options Paper at http://consult.gov.je/portal until 16 September.