Population: ‘We could cope with 100,000′
Monday 9th February 2009, 3:00PM GMT.
JERSEY could cope with a population of 100,000, Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur has said.
Speaking to the JEP after the launch of the blueprint for the Strategic Plan, Senator Le Sueur said that such a population level would be manageable and would not put the Island’s infrastructure under too much strain.
But he admitted that a 100,000 population would not currently be sustainable and said that such a total should only be reached over a number of years. Senator Le Sueur said: ‘Jersey is capable of maintaining a population level of between 95,000 and 100,000 but the Island would face increased pressure if the level exceeded that.
‘I think Jersey is capable of sustaining a population of 100,000 over a period of time, but not at the present time, as we don’t have the accommodation to meet that demand.’
The number of people in Jersey has increased considerably over recent years, with population levels rising from 87,186 in March 2001 to 90,800 by the end of 2007.
• Planning Jersey’s future and a link to the full Strategic Plan consultation document
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Err I don’t think so, Perhaps the chief minister should look at the state of our roads between 7am and 6pm as they are always jammed solid around town. Where are they going to live? where are they going to go to school? How are they going to get around? Or does the chief minister want to cover the whole island in concrete???
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They havn’t got a clue what the population is now. People used to say the population used to swell to 100,000 during the summer. I noticed it swelled years ago, but no one ever left after the summer. If the population was to grow. Where would our water come from. Where would our waste go. Its about time we opted for the Aussie way where people had to apply before stepping foot in the island. Police checked etc.
When traveling around the world. People would ask what the population of Jeresy was. When we said around 90,000, they could not beleive how so many poeple could all live on a rock 9×5. And thats from countries that are considered over populated by world standards
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Rome continued to prosper as Rome continued to expand, but Rome declined when it became too large to cope with its many peoples. Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur is no Nero; however his political stance does call into question our immigration policy.
Where does the Council of Ministers envisage the extra 10,000 or so residents will come from. Advanced breeding program, for local residents? Immigration to fill the jobs we are losing? Where is Jersey going? The local born ‘Jersey’ person is an endangered species.
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Maui 1883 sq km, 117,000 people
corfu 592 sq km, 107,000 people
ibiza 571 sq km, 113,000 people
ko sumi 228 sq km, 55,000 people
JERSEY 116 sq km, approx 100,000 people.
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so 90,800 in the end of 2007? so we are pretty much there then…so stop letting people in now please, i would like to own a house one day that is bigger then dog kennel.
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Once again we are zipping off into imagine how it could be territory.
We islanders are used to this, over the last few months we have had a bridge to France and 100Mb/s Internet connections.
I know it does not seem very likely at the moment but if Jersey had a seriously dry summer we would be in a hose pipe ban situation fairly quickly.
Plus there is no planning at all on how to deal with current traffic levels, imagine chucking several thousand more cars into the current anarchy and seeing what would happen.
Maybe the new States slogan should be; Come to Jersey where everyday is April Fools Day!
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Jersey could probably “cope” with a population of a million and be like Singapore or Hong Kong.
A better question is what would be the ideal population and I suspect its below the current level.
Bring an end to new building, increase the skillset of residents, try to improve everyone’s standard of life rather than rely on constant growth to maintain current living standards. Lose the low paid, low skilled jobs – the thousands of construction workers, potato pickers and hotel workers – and concentrate on self-sufficiency and building a model community where money isn’t everything.
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Sure we need another 10,000 cars on the road, or is it that we need the money from taxes?
Why don’t we ask 10,000 UK residents to pay tax but not live here – cake and eat it.
Nice one Tezza.
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Never mind increasing the population………….which anyway is well above the reported figures – why do you think the last census was cancelled…….. The States gov’mt did not want to frighten people with the actual rapid increase in “unchecked” immigrants. The problem is that any unsavoury individual can come to Jersey and create havoc on the streets / crime / drugs. Yes there is a need for resources / workforce from outside of the Island to come and work here – but at least have some form of security checks in place to increase the quality and quantity of genuine law obiding( no major criminal record ) skilled persons ( something positive to give) coming to Jersey. If you have a certain negative quality of person coming to Jersey and they settle and have a family – then in 15-20yrs time multiply the current figures for crime / sponging from the states – tax payers money, and the result is frightening and potentially devastating for a small Island, and the quality of life for decent hard working members of the public.
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There you have it. Idylic Jersey turned into a unpleasant overcrowded little rock by 40 years of avarice, chasing too much Finance Industry business. Effectively our politicians are saying as many people can come here as want to. That’s pretty much been the policy in the UK since 1997 so no better over there.
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IF anything the population has dropped after 07 as some people Jersey born have emigrated recently,some went to uk,some Latvians and Polish have gone home due to european factories relocating there and limited jobs here.Plus Jersey has an ageing pouplation with some young not returning after going to college in England.
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A 10% increase in population would need a 10% increase in schools, jobs, nursing homes, vehicles etc etc.
Unless you build a new town in St Mary’s where are you going to put them all.?
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But of course! There’s still loads of fields we can build compact 2 bed and a box room houses with tiny gardens, there’s plenty of jobs to go round, the roads are all in pristine condition and virtually empty, and there’s always abundant parking available in town so i’m sure we can fit another couple of thousand cars on the road.
No, no, no and no. The island is pretty much saturated in every department – what little natural internal beauty the island has left will be gone if you see this proposition through and build more to accommodate the extra numbers.
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the last census was a joke [despite phillip ousuf sayting it was the most accurate ever]at the end there were 6000 forms that hadnt been filled in or were being refused to hand in then you never heard more, despite all that so many people told me they wernt included in it, next time they should prosecute and make people see that its serious and only then we will get near to a true figure
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Jersey was already heavily overpopulated when it has 80k residents, it’s bordering on the ridiculous now with our 90k what with housing prices and congested roads etc etc etc. Yet good old Tel reckons we can cope with even more?
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Steve – quite correct, just think of all those drunken kids you see out on the streets of St Helier in the evening currently – and he wants to add more.
Why are they paying people welfare who have been here 5 years, if they cannot afford to live here they should go
Where are all the jobs going to come from?
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I agree this is stupid, the population should be stabilized at sensible level lower than now.
However, let’s all e-mail the Chief Minister and others in the States telling them the Island is already full.
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The last pieces of the most attractive feature of Jersey as a place to live and work is slowly being destroyed.
The island had a peaceful, rural aspect to it and although it was easy to get to London and elsewhere it seemed that a lot of the problems that other places faced were not present in the island or at least not to the same degree.
Many people who lived in the country knew their neighbours and the bus drivers and local shop keepers were friends.
Virtually all of that has been swept away and a lot of people who live in the island today have no intention of staying for more than a few years.
So maybe Terry le Sueur could pursue policies that will see the population raised to a 100,000 or even 120,000 but it won’t be ‘Jersey’ anymore.
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I agree with Steve and P Lee – we need some form of check on those who are permitted to enter the island.
20 years ago I worked for 3 months in Alderney which under Guernsey guidance checked anyone entering the island to work. One of our party had a criminal record for fighting and was refused entry.
If Alderney could do this 20 years ago surely it should be the minimum standard for us going forward.
Crime and drugs are real issues here, they didn’t use to be, please lets stop the vermin at source and keep Jersey special before it’s too late.
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Last year when people were asking why Dandara were building so many new apartments when there was no apparent demand for them the more cynical amongst us suggested that perhaps Frank had given them the nod about his Strategic Plan and the push for growth.Terry was then and still is now Frank’s puppet so be prepared for the slow drip feed of mis-information supporting the Plan and in a year or so’s time you will also believe that 100,000 is a reasonable number.
Red pill/blue pill? The choice is yours.
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At least the pretense is gone now – all those years of talking about sustainable development when they meant sustained development. We need to ask ourselves some very serious questions – what is Jersey to you? A home or a job? What sort of Jersey do you want your kids to grow up in? What was good and bad about the old Jersey? What can we take from the past into the future to make Jersey a better place? What do we need that we haven’t got? If you can not answer these questions and then act on the results there are very clearly a great many people who are very happy to answer them for you and these same people will be dictating where your children work, where they go to school, who is in and who is out. Jersey will be theirs. You have very little time left. If any. Do something!
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i am with the majority, on this one.
1 to 16..
we are all on the same page here.
mid summer will be interesting, as to where the non white collar job situation will be.
i belive we will not need imported labour.
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Your main services are already falling apart, the roads are a ‘health hazard’ with pot holes everywhere, even this new anti skid surface, and you want to increase?
I believe we are already @ 100K (!!)
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40 years ago the population was probably a little over 60,000 and it has gone up by 50% since then. During that time we have lost much of the tourism and farming industries. The only replacement has been finance.
I assume that our Chief Minister thinks that finance can go on expanding to solve all the problems. What will happen when that starts to decline? It will only take the EU to declare that all their residents must be taxed on their global incomes for the benefits of investing in Jersey to vanish. What will the source of tax income be then?
The decline of the the finance industry has probably already started now that Incapability Brown has allowed the interest rates to go so low that there is little point in investing anyway.
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They wont be happy until the island is covered like Bermuda or the Cayman islands.
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A census is not really ever that accurate because a lot of people lie in it anyway.
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Wow I find this hilarious seeing as we can’t cope now
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The Islands’ infrastructure is already under pressure and the beauty we used to have along the south coast has been destroyed, so I don’t think so Mr Le Sueur.
The quality of Life I grew up with has disappeared and I’m seeing a concrete jungle growing up all around me. I don’t want to live in
Hong Kong By Europe thank you.
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Why is accomodation always the only highlighted issue!!!
What about having enough Water in Jersey during a hot summer to provide for that many people. Electricity, Oil, Parking, Food, Nursery places, Jobs, Bus spaces, School places?
how old will you have to be to retire in Jersey to pay for the pensions of 100,000 people if it is already a problem?
Can our healthcare cover that many people should an epidemic hit?
Accommodation is the easiest of these issues to sort!!
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Each time I visit Jersey it seems more and more congested with people,cars,houses and flats piled on top of one another.It is only since I have moved to the UK that I realise how over populated the island really is and as others have said any natural beauty that is still left will be eroded by yet more building.I agree that any census is innaccurate as I know of people who were living in non-quals rooms who were never given a form presumably because the home owner wasn’t admitting to renting out any rooms and didn’t want the fact to be known by the appropriate authorities.
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There are loads of properties which aren’t even on mains drains and our sewerage system is in chaos with diluted (not treated) sewerage being discharged into the streams and sea regularly (and you thought this only happened in Guernsey).
Our hospital is running on a skeleton staff (hence the low morale) and is finding it hard to cope. If we can’t afford more staff then we aren’t going to be any better off by increasing the immigration as we will just need more staff to cope with the additional demand on services.
Yet Mr Le Sueur thinks we can cope with more people – which actually is just a follow-on from Frank Walker’s Imagine Jersey 2035 propaganda exercise.
Why don’t we use our commonsense for once – sort out the housing and employment for those that are here now and limit intake to those we really need whilst screening out undesirable elements.
And no, we cannot do without agricultural workers – if we don’t work our land it will soon be built on.
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I’m 19 and can’t see myself having a future here. Neither can most of my friends. This Island has turned from bad to worse and it really does frustrate me because behind it all, it is a beautiful island.
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Stop wasting your time and having an opinion on this. The deal has been done and this will become reality. When will the people of Jersey learn that your opinions and concerns do not matter.
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Who voted for this destroyer of all that was once good about Jersey? Not me, that’s for sure!
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wrong way round again.
States policy should be directed at reducing population levels not incresing them.
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It is time TLS retired, he has really lost the plot now. I agree with all comments above.
I, and a lot of other people, would like to see the end of this “establishment” and see somebody with a more sensible approach to represent the Island. Somebody who respects the Island and those who live here.
All TLS can see in his eyes is more people which means more tax which in turn more money he can spend on irresponsible things. He hasn’t got the insight, or capablity of seeing, the problems that this could bring to our island and the possible failure and hardships that this could give to the Islanders.
I would love the Island to become how it was when I was a child. Tranquil, peaceful, friendly, honest workers, little crime and just a beautiful Island for the Islanders to live.
So come on Jersey bring down the numbers in this Island and have a sensible approach as to who we let in.
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So we need more immigrants so that the island can pay for its ageing population. But surely these new immigrants will grow old one day. Are we not just passing the problem down to the next generation? Are our States members so short-sighted that they cannot see this or do they just not care as the problem will not be there’s.
“We can cope with 100,000 people” is a total joke. Obviously Terry Le Sueur hasn’t ever tried getting from Maufant into town at 8 am in the morning. Of course there will be some bright spark who comes up with the idea of taxing people that drive into town to solve that problem. Well some of us have no choice! Have you ever tried getting two babies on a bus at 8 am in the morning?
We are gradually losing everything that makes Jersey special due to constant population growth. The population should have been capped strictly at 80,000.
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Jersey – Life Enriching – ha that’s a laugh. Life in a continuing downward spiral. Or perhaps Life Enriching for all the freeloaders coming over here, or remaining here when they cannot afford to live here. Anyone who complains that Jersey is too expensive and is not contributing to the community/society here should have any benefits cut off after a set period so that they have two options, get a job or leave.
Yet again our politicians, who are supposed to represent us, the voters, are going off on their own agendas. The longer this style of government and decision making is allowed to continue, the further we fall from a recognised democracy. It is the arrogance of the politicians who continue with this “think they know best” approach to governing that divides the voter and the politician. We should all be encouraged to interact more with our elected representatives to ensure that the consensus is not drowned out by a few pompous politicians riding rough-shod over the more recently appointed and therefore inexperienced politicians. Come on Jersey, it is no good continuing to moan and do nothing, we need to challenge our politicians and make sure they are accountable for their decisions.
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I doubt TLS reads these posts so I hope the JEP will continue with their superb journalism of the past few weeks and challenge TLS et al with the “mood of the public” on our behave.
JEP I applaud you for finally taking the States to task about how they are running the Island. As the only newspaper I see it as your responsibility to represent the majority and not to just to the States line. The vast majority of posts her are against TLS’ views so I firmly believe that is the stance the JEP should take.
Keep up the good work JEP – I might even start buying you again if this standard of journalism continues
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Yet again the un-elected CM has spouted yet more rubbish. Where has this latest nonsense come from?
If opened his eyes, read the previous comments or simply took a drive round The Rock, (maybe on the Sunshine Bus!!!) I hope he would be able to compute the population has reached the dizzying heights of 100,00 plus.
The drain on natural resources is a real issue. The Water Supply was established and designed for far fewer populace than there is now and there is no room for further expansion. This would encroach on the building plots required for the extra people!
Jersey is reaching the stage of a downhill snowball. It needs the extra people to feed the ever increasing need for money to finance the states requirements.
Anyone got any answers?
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Of course Terry is going to try to con everyone into believing that we can/need to increase the population – he is so absolutely determined to have the proposed Financial District go ahead regardless of commonsense / economic downturn that he is going to need someone, anyone, to come over and fill the empty buildings.
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Whens the revolution?
I think its time to remove this government and bring in people who are not interested soley in money and think about the bigger picture of improving everyones life and giving us all a better quality of life. if this means reducing numbers then this must happen. Not increase numbers?
How do we measure the number of people on the island now? We have no cencus data and our social, rates and tax systems etc don’t speak to each other. Who has the right numbers?
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Manhattan is 87.5 km2 with a population of 1,620,867.
I don’t think Jersey really has to worry yet. Jersey could cope with 100,000. The problem is that the states have to start plannig things a bit better.
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What exactly will all these people be coming to Jersey to do? It won’t take long to fill the 100 jobs currently advertised on the Social Security website and in the JEP.
Where are all the jobs for these people?
Where are all the homes?
etc, etc.
What on earth is our Chief Minister thinking of!? What planet springs to mind – Uranus?
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Forty-two blog posts, maybe not a record, but it does demonstrate that we are concerned.
Islander (post 24) could not have put it better:
40 years ago the population was probably a little over 60,000 and it has gone up by 50% since then. During that time we have lost much of the tourism and farming industries. The only replacement has been finance.
Beware an over reliance on finance. Sky high earnings, real and imagined, are the engine of dreams and not a stable economy. We need a strategic review that will produce Jersey centric jobs for all islanders. Just look to the UK finance industry to see now the big boys lost all of their toys.
Harnessing tidal power may not be the ultimate panacea, but careful management would produce long term work for locals. Spending the Terry’s fugally amassed ‘rainy day fund’ on foreign workers is not the fault of the ‘foreign workers’ but indicative of failed government.
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Doesn’t look all that bad.
Interesting to note how many of the most populated areas are either islands or effectively islands, such as Gibraltar.
Anyway – who’s going to pay my pension?
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Oh dear. More rubbish from the unelected Dictatorship running the island. Does he not realise people (Jersey-born people) are leaving the island in droves to find work, housing and a better quality of life elsewhere?
When do we get to vote him out?
Let’s hope it is soon, before too much damage is done.
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I am surprised that a true Jerseyman has made a statement that will ruin “his” island. Having been here for “only” 25 years now I have seen the good and the bad that has come from our developing island but enough is enough, we are full and its time to rekindle some of the lost essence of this island.
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Fubar, #4, to add to your list…
Isle of Coll
76.85 sq km – population under 200
Regardless of a comment above that accommodation is not the biggest issue, it impacts on health and quality of life so is a major issue. Jersey already has a huge accommodation problem in that so much of it is completely unsuitable for its current use. Currently many people with kids and teenagers are living in flats. This is not appropriate accommodation for them. Teenagers are likely to have arguments and make noise and kids later obesity is determined at such a young age that gardens to run around in are really a big requirement!
Some common sense is seriously needed here not the greed for more income!
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I don’t think the kids in Jersey would get fat because they live in apartments. Jersey has plenty of beaches and open areas for kids to run about in. If there is going to be an obesity problem it is because a lot of kids in Jersey are driven to school and are spending a lot of their time in front of the TV/PC. Jersey has the highest rate of car ownership per capita in Europe. What does that say about us? We’re always complaining that there are too many people for such a small island, but we all still need our cars to cross the vastness of the 12 parishes. It will be our own selfishness and our inability to see the wood for the trees that will ruin our quality of life.
Like it not, if we want to sustain our present standard of living, the states of jersey has to look at cultivating the skills of permanent residents. At the same time, if we ended up with a highly skilled workforce in Jersey we would still need people to work in our service sector.
Alternatively, we could just kick out the finance sector and bring back our agriculture and tourism. Personally, I don’t know many people who fancy working all day breaking their backs picking potatoes or cleaning hotel rooms.
Furthermore, I don’t think Jersey could compete with subsidized UK and European farmers or the lure of an all-inclusive Mediterranean holiday for the same price.
The upshot is that no matter what we do, we will still need fresh people to drive our economy, pay our pensions and care for our overweight kids.
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I left Jersey in September, after 9 years of living there. Having recently returned for a weekend of visiting friends, I realise I’ve made the right decision. My only regret is that wasted too many years by not leaving before
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There was a great line in Jurassic Park: “Just because we can, does not mean we should” and I believe this is summed up here. TLS asks for our opinions on one hand, yet takes the same approach as the establishment has done for ages. The comment that our views and concerns count for nothing could be seen as cynical and defeatist, but given the regime we have its simply a pragmatic view on the situation as we have it.
If I had ever voted for any of the current COM, (Thank god I have more sense!) then I would almost feel compelled to wear a badge saying “sorry” until things finally changed. But do we have to wait 3 years until the next elections, or are we long overdue a comprehensive general election to put in place a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Some of the new candidates in the States have shown themselves to be fairly capable to date, so major change is not the frightening situation the establishment told us about.
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Make your voices count and email your opinion. Email the people you voted for. Something has to work, there must be another way, I don’t want to see Jersey get any worse than it is now.
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Island (#24), that would be Incapability Mervyn King!
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so is this the reason they want a huge incinerator?
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Maya, there is not the time to take the kid to the park or beach as often as is necessary, unless you have a maid to look after the house and prepare the meals, or a nanny to take the kids.
We’re talking about toddlers here (that’s how young the problem starts) not kids that can be allowed to go off to the beach by themselves.
Living in apartments does affect children, it has already been proven scientifically that there is a need for kids to have as much room as possible to run around in their own homes/gardens regardless of what is available to them outside of the home. I have to admit that I will simply not have kids unless I have a home with a garden.
Never mind that being a neighbour to a flat with kids is not particularly the most pleasant experience.
I’m not blaming the parents, it’s the planning department that have caused the problem.
Visiting where my nephews live (an area in Scotland where every house has a garden) it is very clear that there are no obese kids in the school, of any age. They do get lots of rain and snow but the kids just get their waterproofs on and go out and play.
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I think TLS needs to get his ego and empire building idealisms into check. Just take a look at Fred Goodwin to see where it will get him in the long term.
Actually, I will answer that myself. It will make him loads more money and at the end when the empire crumbles he will just apologise and say no one could have seen it coming, leaving the rest of us sub servients picking up tab.
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Leah, I understand that people don’t have enough time to take their children out as much as they like, but I don’t think we can blame the planning department for obese kids. A lot of flats in Jersey are sub-standard and not properly insulated. However, this problem was caused by misguided and half-baked attempts to control population through housing, which has allowed greedy property developers/landlords to cut corners.
I
think it’s great that your nephews are lucky enough to have a garden to run about in. However, I know that a report by the NHS in Scotland showed that 1 in 5 children under the age of 12 are clinically obese. I also know that Jersey also has a looming obesity problem brewing with our under-16s. Not everybody in Jersey or Scotland live in apartments or houses. So why do we have an obesity problem?
I spent the first 12 years of my life in a bedsit with my parents and I’m not obese, neither were my friends who lived in flats. I also know people who grew up in houses with gardens that battled with their weight. I know that this is all circumstantial evidence and quite frankly completely off-topic.
Don’t get me wrong!! I’m definitely not a fan of the states of jersey. However, we have to accept the fact that we will always need new people to keep Jersey going. Jersey has so much potential, but the trick lies in proper management. The government needs to be pro-active and creative about dealing with Jersey’s socio-economic needs. It’s the politicians and property-developers that have short-changed us.
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No. 46 – Pension? Ha Ha, Where do you think the pension money goes? Investments plans and dodgy saving schemes. And what is the state of those now?
Basically, there are no pensions left. But that is another bombshell still to be dropped.
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Why all the fuss? The ‘real’ population is over that already
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the real question that should be asked on the island is whu don’t the young return once they go to uni??
and the answer come down to limited job oppotunities, rubish facilities for the youth ( with the not in my back yard culture so prevalent in the older generations in the island that seem to not be able to accept change in the island direction) oh that set of completely incompetent old men that have no idea what its like living in jersey for anybody under the age of 50 raisinging a family.
the reason that town gets so filled up because 5 secondary to alevel, 1 states school and 8 primary and schools are in town or the vacinity around st saviour on wellington hill and mount millais.
so that magical plan conjured up by that very special states member to reduce parking will only serve to irritate the islanders who work in town, the jams around town are generally caused by the 1000′s of parents dropping off their kids to school because the busses are over crowded, and poorly run by a company that should never ever have been appointed to run the islands bus service because they have no idea what the comunity needs!!!
the one thing that the island really needs is for its massive population to actually start voting, the fact that only 20,000 people voted in the last senatorial elections is beyond me. maybe its the fact that you can not vote for all the senaotors at the same time!! just why< why did that stupid rule come into place, people might actually take more or an interest in the politics, sorry bureaucracy if it actually meant something and if the youth of today actually cared, the fact is the youth are disalusioned by the way the sates operate that they’ve given up all hope and can’t wait to vactae this god foresaken rock.
the old redieming feature of the isalnd is its beaches and summer / rainy season. cause at least then there is a shred of hope that we can forget about all the bs that goes on and go for a swim
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Maya, I’m really just making the point that bad housing situations compound the problem of obesity, not that they are the sole cause of it!
If the States want more babies born and/or raised here they will need to provide more housing suitable for raising children. I’m not aware of places that constantly build upwards increasing the quality of life of their inhabitants, the opposite may well be true though.
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61 Nick – quite right – agree completely.
One bright spot on the horizon – several of the worst culprits have promised not to stand again in 3 years!
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I think Jersey could fit another 200,000 on the Island. The States could build an offshore motorway around the Island a bit like the M25 around London. As far as room for houses goes, what about developing St. Oeuns its just a load of old sand, they could also develop more High rise blocks of flats – Jersey could cope with at least another 100 of them discreetly positoned around the Island. What about the old castles which do little more than waste space, those could be converted into apartments. As far as water supplies goes, the States could ship it in from France over the bridge that links Jersey and France, they already buy the electricity from France, why not water as well? Ive recently moved over to the Island and think that development should be encouraged more. Jersey has the benifit of the Finance Industry and this should be taken advantage of now. Build, build, build that’s what I say. If the Island gets wrecked so what I’m not from here, and can always go on holiday somewhere else.
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Hello…! Would people please read the article rather than just reading the typical JEP sensationalist headline. Terry said we could support 100k people but not as things stand… That means a lot would need to be done for Jersey to support 100k people. In other words Jersey can’t support 100k people today, but with investment and development of infrastructure it is possible. It also doesn’t mean it’s definitely going to happen. Now what part of the article are people struggling with?
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Joker – you obviously didn’t attend the Imagine Jersey 2035 debacle – Frank and now Terry are determined to keep the floodgates open and even open them wider if possible. That is, unless sensible people do something to stop them.
Part of their spin is to start putting ideas like this into our minds and keep hammering on at it over and over until eventually the majority accept it as fact – just like GST … how many people believe the lie that there was no alternative? This is how they manipulate us – just like Goebbels.
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Nellie Macon – you obviously didn’t properly read what I wrote – ironic that was the point of my original post. I was referring to what was written in the article versus a lot of peoples responses such as:-
“…chief minister should look at the state of our roads between 7am and 6pm”
“..if Jersey had a seriously dry summer we would be in a hose pipe ban situation fairly quickly.”
“A 10% increase in population would need a 10% increase in schools, jobs, nursing homes, vehicles etc etc.”
“Your main services are already falling apart,”
“Electricity, Oil, Parking, Food, Nursery places, Jobs, Bus spaces, School places? ”
Etc etc. I didn’t say it wasn’t going to happen, whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. I merely expressed that people couldn’t have read the article thoroughly before making their comments – something that happens all too often on HYS. It’s one thing to moan, it’s another to moan about something you haven’t bothered to read into properly.
So I’ll write it again… Terry said we could support 100k people but not as things stand… The key word being ‘but’.
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Jessy Schweetcakes – very funny, but the only people that have over-developed and wrecked the island is the jersey people themselves. We voted in the politicians, (well that is the half a dozen that can actually be bothered to vote). We made money when finance came over here, we got the better paid jobs in finance and the civil service, we made money by charging outsiders ridiculous rent for dumps, we clog up the roads every morning to drop off our little darlings, we fund our graduates and watch them get jobs in UK, we watch our government tax foodstuffs but not marine fuel, we sit back in our over-priced home. We don’t want to rock the boat. We think that it’s our right to have this and that, but forget that with rights come responsibilities and duties. I’m afraid to say it, but we’ve got the government we deserve. I’m Jersey but I’m fed up with people blaming everybody else except for themselves. Nobody wants a concrete jungle but nobody wants to live in a provincial backwater with no future.
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It really pains me to read that the man at the top of this food chain that makes up the Jersey political system should even contemplate any expansion of the population. As with many aspects of life, the more and bigger is therefore better is still being pursued, but for what?
Wake up to accept that quality is always better than quantity, and accept that as Jersey is an island with limited and finite resources, it will be the wise person who chooses to restrict growth, so that future generations have something of the natural Jersey as their inheritance.
It is clear that TLS is not the wise man to make that choice. Bye bye Jersey….
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IF like me you already know jersey has 95k + here all ready wait till summer 100k+
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Jessy – unfortunately most of the very rich Jersey folk live in the countryside and remote areas like St Ouen. Apartments & flats etc. would not be permitted by them so they chose to build in St Helier where the poorer members of Jersey society live.
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it makes me sad to read articles like this.
So many times people who live in the thick of Jersey say they are being discriminated against, that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.
They then get people who reply saying ‘your so lucky living on that island, i would lvoe to, i remember when etc’
Then you get the ones that say. ‘well if you dont like it there is a boat in the morning’
But don’t you see? For all the pretty beaches, and postcard views, there are real people trying to live and survive here. There are real people trying to feed their families. If everyon got on that boat in the morning and left, who would provide the rich peoples food? Who would clean teh streets or patrol them and make them safer.
Its all very well saying we can increae the population to 100k, but who are these increases going to be? The poor? No. The polish or portugese? No. The rich who don’t actually work just sit and earn interest? Yes.
Why can’t our politicians work for the people they already have living here, making their lives better, rather than trying to get in more of their own gang.
Besides if we all got on the boat in the morning, like the older generation keep saying, whose going to pay the social security for their pensions?
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many just exist here in jersey, born here or not.
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Holy Poop On A Stick !!!!!
What a fantastic response, but there is a better way to get rid of this diseased regime.
On the last Friday of every month, down tools for the day, that should soon bring about the desired change that 95% of the population wish to see.
Death to this Nazi dictatorship.
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