THE Business Party has been having a bit of a laugh this week.

At least, the local branch of the Institute of Directors has come out against the Island Plan proposal to designate up to 40 per cent of new development sites for ‘affordable’ homes.

I think this must be a joke, because surely no one with a conscience would want to be seen to say such things in public. But presumably the members of the IoD industries sub-committee have absolutely no intention of standing in the next elections.

Putting aside for a moment the whole issue of what constitutes an ‘affordable’ home and what does not, this proposal is, I believe, among the more sensible in the ‘new’ Island Plan. Rather than ‘bringing construction to a crashing halt’, as the IoD has claimed, I would have thought that ‘affordable’ homes would mean a larger number of people able to buy them and, therefore, a welcome boost for wilting house sales.

According to the IoD, however, affordable housing seems to mean high-rise blocks in town, as well as building in the countryside. Or is it that they want building everywhere, in order to ‘attract a workforce containing single people, couples and families’?

Given that we already have more than 1,000 people registered out of work, and that the finance industry has lost more than 400 posts in the last year alone, why would the Island need to attract more workers?

Oh, I get it – this is the Business Party long-term strategy to turn Jersey into a mini-Singapore. Along with lots of those awful data centres pumping out zillions of volts of electricity.

The Waterfront is nothing more that somewhere on the way to somewhere else
IS our glorious Waterfront about to become an elephants’ graveyard?

It’s hard to say at this stage – but with three of the prime sites losing their UK backing, the current level of confidence must be at its lowest since the place was opened to the public – and at my reckoning, that must have been less than ten years ago.

It is, of course, cracking news that the Liberation Group are prepared to take on The Bar. But that still leaves the giant Liquid nightclub standing empty – and those premises were completely updated, as I recall, less than three years ago.

At the time, I was asked to go along and see the spectacular refurbishment, which included new lighting and a system whereby people under 25 had their own section of the club, leaving the more sophisticated over-25s to do their own thing separately. The manager of the day was wholly enthusiastic about the project.

Clearly, though, that formula doesn’t seem to have worked. Neither has the offer at the Chicago Rock Café.

The organisation that has, until now, been running these three venues – the UK-based quoted company Luminar – is obviously of the opinion that there is no money to be had on Jersey’s Waterfront, even in the summer. Lesser mortals might have held on for a bit until the end of the sunny season, when all the sun seekers and seasonal staff who might have used these places will have gone home.

The answer lies in the interim management statement issued in January, which stated: ‘The general economic conditions, and in particular youth unemployment, continue to have a significant impact on our core customers … exacerbated by extremely poor weather across the UK.’

The statement goes on to say that ‘same outlet sales’ for December were 13.8% lower than last year, with sales across the 44 weeks to 31 December 8.1% lower than the previous year.

As a result, says Luminar, profit before tax for the year to February is expected to be’below market expectations.

Those final figures are due to be announced next month when, if they have to courage to do so, the management of Luminar might be able to provide a little more light on why they have decided to extinguish their Waterfront presence so abruptly.

Meanwhile, we still have Cineworld (for how long?) and the jolly flumes of Aquasplash (which also has its own financial troubles), and Fitness First, and of course dear old Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Personally, the only time I step foot on the permanently wind-beaten Waterfront site is en route to somewhere nicer, at the other end of Victoria Avenue. But perhaps someone should ask the Waterfront Enterprise Board what they intend to do with these monstrous UK-inspired concrete elephant enclosures.

Progress is fine, but I wouldn’t blame the postal workers for taking a stand
I’M not surprised that the Post Office workers have decided to take a stand this week. In fact, I’m surprised that they have not done so before.

The fact is that the traditional post office service is going the same way as other ‘outmoded’ forms of communication. In the not too distant future I foresee the demise of the humble postage stamp, no doubt superceded by something digital and anonymous.

In order to bolster their flagging core business, post offices generally, and in Jersey in particular, have attempted to come up with some other ideas that will bring in the readies. A while back, for example, they brought in an online payment service so that people could pay for their parish rates and so forth by computer.

The jerseymail web address was another idea to bring in some revenue, and more recently there have been tie-ins with courier services, various kinds of insurance products linked to local companies, and last year an internet centre sprouted up within the confines of the Broad Street office.

For the past few years, however, and despite the best efforts of the UK government, most of the postal traffic revenue has come from the postage to the UK of ‘fulfilment’ goods – CDs and DVDs which can be purchased by UK customers from the Channel Islands without paying UK VAT.

The tax ‘loophole’ is still legal and still profitable, and although the Post Office no longer operates a full fulfilment service brand (because of the aforementioned UK government getting bolshie with our Economic Development Minister), it does still send out a fair number of packages.

And of course it also receives incoming parcels from internet purchasers – and last year introduced the ship2me scheme to try and get a bigger share of the market.
Now along comes the Jersey Competition Regulatory Authority, throwing open the fulfilment market to other companies – as it is within its remit to do. That is what competition authorities are for.

Lots of us have welcomed the new telecoms services because they are cheaper and have rivalled Jersey Telecom. Lots of us may welcome the new postal services because they may be cheaper and will rival Jersey Post.

But you can’t blame the postal workers for kicking up a stink when their jobs are on the line. Just as we can’t have our cake and eat it.