AS photographs have shown us this week, the States’ largest ever capital project is fast taking shape on the Waterfront.

The new energy-from-waste plant is costing in the region of £120 million and will totally dominate the skyline for any sea vessel approaching St Helier.

However, what is also abundantly clear is that the ageing Bellozanne incinerator is well past its prime and is probably breaching a host of environmental standards. Whether or not that has had an impact on our day-to-day health is not at all clear.

But the new plant is not exactly without its problems, mainly due to its location on reclaimed land. For years now allegations have centred around the ash residue and materials used to create these new Waterfront land masses, already host to one large international hotel and about to spawn several more apartment blocks.

Next week the States are due to debate a proposition lodged by Environment Scrutiny panel member Deputy Daniel Wimberley, who is claiming that environmental impact statements about the new incinerator site – and the other adjacent sites – were ‘flawed’.

His proposition also reveals that the multi-million-pound incinerator project is already being investigated for breaching the water pollution law and that the previous project manager was fired ‘for taking environmental protection too seriously’.

At this stage, the Deputy is merely asking Planning Minister Freddie Cohen to take full and proper account of past failures before approving yet another apartment block complex, called Zephyrus, which is apparently planned for a site to the north of the Radisson Hotel.

Incidentally, the Deputy also claims in his proposition that the Radisson itself ‘escaped scrutiny’.

Pardon me for saying so, but isn’t Senator Cohen supposed to be the Planning and Environment Minister? It seems to me that he is currently putting rather more emphasis on the planning element and rather less on the environmental one.

Perhaps those two roles should be divided between two separate ministries, as they seem to be at odds in this case.

But you can hardly blame the hard-pressed minister for keeping rather quiet about the Scrutiny panel’s claims. Just think of the disappointment on the developers’ faces if it were found that the landfill lurking under the reclaimed land was too hazardous for human habitation …

A sticking point on clearing the snow
THE Parish of St Saviour has put me right on the subject of clearing ice from the pavements in the area around its parish hall. The people there say it is absolutely not their responsibility to clear this hazard but that it is the job of Transport and Technical Services.

And in any case, Mont Millais (which I mentioned as an example of particularly dangerous stretches of icy pavement) is definitely in St Helier, says the St Saviour parish secretary.

Does this include the area from St Saviour’s School to the Five Oaks roundabout, I wonder?

But that’s fine, I guess. If parishioners and visitors are suffering broken limbs because the States department in question does not have the wherewithal to fulfil its duties, why should the parish authorities step up to the plate and render assistance?

Incidentally, between the three arteries of Wellington Road, Mont Millais and St Saviour’s Road, I do believe there are five primary schools (including the fee-paying ones), six secondary schools and the Island’s only adult education college.

Still waiting for a law on equality
MORE than four-fifths of women of working age are now working outside the home, according to the latest Jersey Annual Social Survey. The percentage has increased from 76% five years ago to 82%.

However, what has not changed is that whereas 16% of working women work part-time, only three per cent of men do so.

And whereas 16% of the men are in senior management roles, only five per cent of women are in senior posts. In fact, when it comes to clerical or ‘intermediate’ occupations, only six per cent of men do this type of work compared with 29% of women.

However, the survey notes that the distribution of higher educational qualifications is similar for both women and men. Relative salary levels do not appear to be included in the survey. But even if men are paid more than women for the same job, there is, as yet, no law on equality in this Island.