Taxpayer could lose £8m over Lime Grove fiasco
Wednesday 31st August 2011, 3:00PM BST.
The offices in Green Street which have been bought by a finance firm
THE collapse of a deal to move the police station to Green Street will cost the taxpayer up to £8 million, the Home Affairs Minister said yesterday.
In evidence to a States Scrutiny panel, Senator Le Marquand laid blame for the fiasco squarely at the door of Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf, his department and deputy States chief executive John Richardson.
The Home Affairs Minister revealed that the Treasury had delayed the signing of the deal to buy the Lime Grove building to try to save £200,000, but that this was likely to end up costing the taxpayer up to 40 times that figure.
Senator Le Marquand said that the deal to move the police station to Green Street was almost sealed when the Treasury department stepped in and effectively killed it through delays and attempted renegotiations.
• See Wednesday’s JEP for full report
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
Travel
To, from and around the Island
Airport Arrivals/Departures
Harbours Arrivals/Departures
Bus Information/Timetables
JOIN US ON...
Facebook and Twitter
Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Got a story? Get in touch
KIT 4 CLUBS
Win a share of £10,000
2012 is the year of the London Olympics and to celebrate this great event the Jersey Evening Post, in association with sponsors Ogier is giving all sporting clubs a chance to win a share of £10,000.
This is Jersey
Jersey Evening Post
Useful links
You couldn’t make it up, that’s another 2% on GST then. Times are hard, GST/electiricty/gas have all gone up, unemployment is at a record high, social security is going up and this bunch of clowns are pi**ing away money like water.
Roll on the election so the wizard of Ozeuf et al can disappear in a puff of smoke.
Report abuse
Report abuse
Is this £8 million an April Fool—- I wonder what it would cost to build NEW !!!
Report abuse
Revolting !
Please explain where the 8 millions are going …
Report abuse
Im starting to really not loike Ozeuf! what an utter fool this man is! He would be better suited out of the States.
Report abuse
One man going for Chief Minister blames another man going for Chief Minister. Cue teflon Phil blaming the Civil Servant, who will leave in the next 9 months with a payoff after falling on his sword.
Life enriching.
Report abuse
Is there no end to the absolutely non-existent cost control exhibited by those who supposedly control the purse-strings in the States. If it were a commercial organisation, they wouldn’y be in charge as it would have gone bust long ago!
Report abuse
Maybe someone should resign this or maybe the fact that they are both members of the magic right wing circle means that there will be no calls for their departure?
Report abuse
If this is accurate then Ozouf and his team have to go. Wern’t they respeonsible also for messing up on the financing of the incinerator by not remembering they had to pay for it in Euros?
Report abuse
I see the race to be Chief Minister is officially under way. First blood to Le Marquand! Look forward to round 2.
Report abuse
heads must roll for this , 8 million blown, on what????
lets not hear tjhe same old”lessons will be learned ” total tosh .
Report abuse
Lime Grove was not a good site for a police station. Thank goodness it fell through. John Richardson and planningn need to stop provoking Jersey folk and prioritise their agendas.
Report abuse
Our previous Treasury Minister cost us millions by failing to set the rate when purchasing the Incinerator, the current one Senator Ozouf, (if these allegations are proven to be true) surely must step down, the taxpayer has had more than enough of mismanagment!
Report abuse
@1 Dont know who you get your electric from, mine went down 5%.
Report abuse
Well,well,well. If this story is corect,there is no choice for Phil Ozouff,and Richardson,but to RESIGN IMMEDIATELY. Give us taxpayers a break.GO NOW,and dont look back.Bear in mind,its these type of situations that started the problems in Tunisia,Egypt,Syria,Saudia Araibia and just lately Libyia.Yet again,its Joe Public who will pick up the bill,by way of “GST” going up again and again.BYE BYE PHIL, Please disappear of the face of the earth and go live in Guernsey !
Report abuse
But that is the beauty of it all.
Neither Ian le Marquand or Phillip Ozouf have to stand for election until 2014.
We have an electoral system that protects failed politicians from the wrath of the electorate.
Report abuse
Hold on a second….. 4. has a point.. the whole building cant be worth more than maybe 2 million.. so where on earth does 8 million come from.. the move didnt happen so no charges there. the building wasn’t bought.. so no charges there. Where’s the 8 million figure from.. They mean £80,000 I’m sure. the cost of a survey or something to check that this white elephant, 10 yr old building that has never been occupied is still sound. Someone please confirm they mean 80,000 and NOT 8 million.. Thats SILLY indeed. Could have knocked it down and built it again twice for that.
Report abuse
Told you so. Ozouf needs to go now.
No delay just go.
God help us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report abuse
Agreed no 6.
What will follow is:
1/an ‘independent’ enquiry,
2/a senior civil servant being blamed and
3/a senior civil servant ‘retiring’ with a large lump sum payoff and an early enhanced pension.
Report abuse
This can’t be actual cash everyone, calm down. Otherwise heads will roll (anyone know where former Treasurer of States went after the incinerator FX debacle?)
This is VERY LIKELY a notional “lost opportunity cost” or the notional extra expense that might be incurred (but hasn’t yet) in whatever the alternative option is now that we’ve lost this opportunity through ineptitude.
However, I for one am delighted it is not going ahead. I’m perfectly happy with things as they are and I’d rather have lost out here and avoided spending whatever the money is bailing out the developer (which is how I saw the potential deal). As did many posters on this forum.
So, calm down …
Report abuse
PO hasn’t tweeted yet, as far as I can see.
Report abuse
Who was project managing this? Why should the tax payers suffer as some smart a*se delayed the signing the lease all the sake for £200,000…. hello we are in a recession!!!!!
Report abuse
nothing surprises me any more,just another blunder to add to the long line of blunders our so called leaders have made.
He obviously cannot do the job and should stand down immediately.
Report abuse
This bunch of idiots couldn’t organise a peace up in a brewery. Am not surprised in the least.
As usual absolutely nothing will happen.
Apart from Tax increases.
Its an insult to Jim Henson to call them Muppets.
Report abuse
Archi rondel @15, to liken the situation in Libya, Syria et al to Jersey is either naive or plain stupid, never mind insulting to those brave souls. I haven’t seen the jersey secret police machine gunning dissenters, have you?
Report abuse
Here’s a stupid idea how about we kill two birds with one stone and get rid of the extra and frankly unnecessary paper pushers at the police station then they won’t need a new bigger building saving the £8 million and all the extra money on unnecessary staff.
Report abuse
Why is,nt this man Ozouf not being arrested, for taking our money,(that,s your,s and mine) and just wasting it, does he thing he is playing with monopoly money??, I say give him the go to Jail card right away!!
Report abuse
Where’s Bruce Willing, Jersey’s self-appointed saviour when you need him? I’m sure he will have some excellent ideas, and he won’t charge a penny for them either
Report abuse
Given that the rent State Street are paying on this is under £1m pa it is hard to make sense of what one suspects are the posturings of Le Marquand. Those criticising Ozouf would also be the first to complain if the deal went ahead: “why are we spending this money on a building nobody wants/bet the owners are part of the Establishment etc etc”.
Sometimes, you can’t win.
Report abuse
17 P. B. Check out the documents on the Scrutiny Site, in particular page 10.
http://www.scrutiny.gov.je/research.asp?reviewid=195
It is £8,000,000 that has theoretically been lost. It would cost that much extra to build a new building from scratch on say the existing Police HQ site. Included in the extra £8,000,000 are the costs of relocating the police temporarily into another office or portacabins whilst the existing buildings on the site are demolished to make way for a new building.
The mistake people keep making is that Lime Grove was to be purely for CID ands Police admin, not for the operational Police Station side of things, which was likely to stay where it currently is.
From reading all the emails published on the Scrutiny site, it is clear to see that Philip Ozouf, and in particular John Richardson are to blame for this co@k up, because they tried to re-negotiate the price at the last minute. You can’t blame the owner of Lime Grove doing a deal with State Street instead!
Report abuse
absolute disgrace!
whoever is responsible for this should do the ‘walk of shame’ and take the exit door… yet again, the taxpayer is left to take the strain over incompetencies of states members and its representative officers.
islanders as being taxed, paying higher gst, increases of fuel and food and those in responsibility make school boy mistakes and get off scott free!
I would laugh but it really isnt funny anymore!
Report abuse
The real scandal is that Home Affairs could have £8m riding on something so uncertain. By the sounds of it they must already have ordered the furniture, it surely wasn’t only the lawyers fees(Ok maybe).
Until the deal fell through I heard no praise for the decision to take-on Lime Grove so it is quite a surprise that it was such a popular decision after all.
It can only be an opinion but mine is that we have too many police, surely we are not getting the full benefit of the 236 police officers and about 90 civilian staff. I agree that there is an improvement lately in visible policing but there must be so many others doing, well; not much.
I’m not surprised Rouge Boullion is bursting at the seams but maybe there’s another solution.
Report abuse
From checking out the documents on the Scrutiny site, in particular the letter to Guy Gothard, it seems that Jersey Property Holdings valued the site prior to making an offer “without prejudice”.
Then it was independently valued by BNP Paribas,which came up with the same figure.
Then it seems that John Richardson didn’t agree with the value, after receiving advice from someone. Who though? I guess it was probably his best buddy Steven Izatt of WEB/JDC as he seems to have got involved around then. I guess he had little else to do!
It then seems that Mr Richardson commissioned yet another valuation, this time by Drivers Jonas that ‘surprise, surprise’ came up with a similar figure to the two previous valuations.
Just how much do all these independent valuations cost, and what was the point of the third valuation? I take it the valuers at Property Holdings, “the States authorised representative”, are professionals, whose figures should be respected and trusted? So why weren’t they by Mr Richardson?
Report abuse
As a taxpayer and one of many that have seen the Lime Grove building as without lessees since it was built,I question why the failed bid will cost the taxpayer £8,000,000.If I was the owner,I’d be kissing the ground when such absurd statements are given credence in the media.
Report abuse
I am sick and tired of witnessing senior politicians making screw-ups like this and walking away consequence-free whilst mumbling about lessons being learned. That can not be allowed to happen this time.
Enough is enough.
Ozouf must resign as Treasury Minister and any future similar mistakes by fellow Ministers need to be dealt with in the same manner.
For all the talk on previous occasions of “lessons being learned”, lessons have have clearly NOT been learned. The rod has been spared and the child been spoilt, so to speak.
That must end today and Ozouf must resign.
Report abuse
What the hell is going on in this island,I am Jersey born having worked for nearly 30years and always been proud of my roots.Now I just want out of this island because it is a mess and it is the goverment that has been allowed to make it such.I have not been able to get a decent job and have felt intimadated like an outsider in my own island.Get a grip.
Report abuse
Toastedteacakes (12). Thank goodness it fell through.
Toastedteacakes, I am with you, my glass is half full rather than half empty. This was never a good site for a police station and hence any opportunity to get a bit of joined up thinking is a blessing in disguise.
That said this fiasco demonstrates all that is wrong with our political system. The current CoM cannot prioritise their personal agendas as we are governed by a bunch of ‘Ministers’ with individual and very personal agendas.
We need a general election on the democratic principle of ‘one man, one vote’. The 19th of October is set to be a travesty of democracy. Just which of the various Senators, Connétables and Deputies will represent my views?
If this fiasco is true somebody should resign and that somebody should be Phil Ozouf. The Minister carries the can for his staff.
Report abuse
I am SICK AND TIRED of Ozouf wasting our money. He is out of his depth and cares not a jot for the average man in the street.
His pompous arrogance and old boy network is ruining this island. And to think its already a done deal that he is the next Chief Minister disgusts me.
When will the people of Jersey drop their apathy and storm the States building and physically remove him? He is failing us all continuously.
Report abuse
Jersey, we get the politicians we deserve!
Report abuse
This debate is absurd. The most worrying thing is that because of a niftily worded headline and article by BQ, so many of you think we have lost £8 million. We haven’t! We have “lost” only the time and money spent on surveys and considering the offer – that’s all, and it would be ludicrous, wouldn’t it, if no time nor money was spent in assessing this opportunity and we had just bought it. The headline is as misleading a headline as I have seen in the JEP, and there is a fair amount of competition when BQ is involved.
Let’s go back to when the prospective move was announced. We lined up to criticise it. We had many reasons – mine being that in tough times, the States must not spend money it does not need to spend, and whether the existing facilities are cutting edge up-to-date is irrelevant if we don’t have the money at this time. (Others pointed out that buying a white elephant on a roundabout just seemed plain wrong).
The question we should put to Ian le Marquand, who has fed the headline with some political expertise, is whether he would like to spend any of our money on a new HQ. Diverting us away from the key issue with a distortion does not auger well if he is to be the next CM. Or will he just be continuing the tradition?!
Report abuse
We pay our politicians peanuts and then moan when we have a house full of monkeys. Of course a politician on £40k is going to bow to the expertise of a civil servant on £140k. Jersey is a democracy and the solution is in the hands of the voters to choose between having a bunch of failed businessmen opposed by a load of unemployable losers who use the excuse of being “alternative” politicians.
You cannot run a successful business unless you offer a sufficient reward [not just cash] to buy an appropriate level of competence for the management team. We are just reaping the incompetence that a £40k salary buys and paying the price in millions for the few thousand we are saving.
Report abuse
Bumble – We have a general election next month – why not just use your vote. If you don’t like any of the candidates and think you can do better then you can declare next week. Give up your job now and go house to house with your solutions or get somebody whom you have confidence to stand instead. Problem is that if you are of the calibre necessary to do a good job then you will be earning a lot more than £40k. The love of serving the public will not pay your mortgage or feed your family. We expect people to give up lucrative careers for a three year contract, no pension and the level of abuse for the employer [the public] which would get anybody else a golden handshake from JACS.
We all vote for the person who means well and will listen to the people, even vote how we tell them, but all such good intentions of the incompetent will never cut the mustard in business.
Report abuse
If you want to know the truth read comment 33. Katie I don’t know who you are but you obviously know your stuff. Now watch Ozouf wriggle and sling mud to cover up his own tracks and those of his lacky Richardson-but the truth is out there-they took it away from Property holdings who were doing exactly what we pay them for and making a proper deal in a qualified professional manner. Now they have totally screwed up they will try to pin the blame on anyone else they can find!
Report abuse
Yet more shoddy, sensationalist reporting from the JEP.
It hasn’t cost anything, it is claimed that it will cost £8 million more because that’s how much more a property of a similar nature would cost to acquire (no surprise given the over priced bubble that like the mainland Jersey property lives in).
Of course, with a bit of diligence in future negotiations and perhaps utilising a property SOJ already own we may actually save money, though given those currently running the show i wouldn’t hold out much hope.
Report abuse
Kate@33 Spot on and well said.
To further your excellent points if I may, Property services, can develop, buy and sell public property when the permission of the States is granted. Why do we have a quango at arms length and commercial secrecy in truck loads kept from the States and the public ?
In the JEP hard copy it says all was going well with property services then Mr Izatt and the treasury got involved, causing bad feeling which has and is rising.
In a recent article a states member questions why Senator Ozouf is trying to close down Property Services by stealth.
Senator Ozouf should resign and the out of control, WEB now Jersey Development Ltd should be disbanded.
Any sitting States member putting forward a disbanding proposition would secure many votes by the public after the waterfront box buildings – Public funded Aquasplash and Radisons fiasco’s.
Davey West
Report abuse
Oh come on people!..the 8 million doesn’t really exist and hasn’t been lost at all….read what was said by ILM.
If the States were to find a similar or better building there would be no looses at all, in-fact there should be an even more suitable building which could house the whole ‘Kremlin’ under one roof?
Report abuse
Sanity (41) We pay our politicians peanuts and then moan when we have a house full of monkeys.
Yes Sanity, we have a house full of unaccountable ‘monkeys’. Hence my post at (37):
“We need a general election on the democratic principle of ‘one man, one vote’. The 19th of October is set to be a travesty of democracy. Just which of the various Senators, Connétables and Deputies will represent my views?”
I think ‘monkeys’ is too strong a term as there are a few honest and honourable politicians out there, but their voice is lost in the babble. The Walker Reforms are a mess and need to be revisited. Too many unaccountable politicians, following too many agenda.
Report abuse
Special Branch (46) in-fact there should be an even more suitable building which could house the whole ‘Kremlin’ under one roof?
Agree, hence the various post suggesting the old JCG site, which is empty, large, owned by the States and in need of repair.
Report abuse
imho, all the public want is the truth.
i am sick of taxes being invented to cover the mess.
Report abuse
I do not think that the States are that bad.
Compare them with the a county councillor and they are about on a par.
There are some awful specimens but most of them work fairly hard to achieve what they see as the best for the island.
There are limits to their power, a lot of things are not controlled by them.
No matter who was in there the fact is that the levers that could be used to control or stimulate the economy are not available in a micro economy like Jersey’s.
Government is not business although sadly many people in Jersey think that a good business person will make a good politician and are then amazed when they fail.
Business has a simple remit and a very short time frame. Politics is about thinking long term about what are often very open ended problems that do not have a best or simple solution.
Report abuse
Read the submissions and see that not one States member, JPH or WEB challenged the comment that the Esplanade area was unsuitable due to flooding. Yet we still hear how the Private sector will be interested in buying once the Taxpayer has developed on own account.
The result of this investigation will amount to nothing, rather than sacking the public servants responsible, they will get away with it. P Ozouf and ILM will be in a public spat; decreasing chances of Chief Minister job, meanwhile Cohen senses blood and will turn on his old buddies to go for top spot.
Report abuse
These people are clearly not qualified to do the job – why did the Treasury Department get involved. In the real world the person or people responsible would be sacked.
These money wasting professionals are unbelievable and certainly are not worthy of their salary or position.
Report abuse
#41 Sanity. I agree, the £40ish K per year is not enough to attract the people we actually need to fill the States Chamber with adequately qualified people. Constables, Deputies, Bailiff and Dean out, leaving just 25 Senators, and pay them £75K per year. We would be paying the chamber the same amount of money, but ridding ourselves of the incompetence that dwells within. Imagine a proper States Senate, made up from people migrating from Private Sector upper management, who know how to get things done. Not the current under achievers or legacy hall of clowns we currently have to endure!
Report abuse
Why doesn’t everyone on here actually read the scrutiny before calling for resignations. The way I read things is that any delays were appropriate in ensuring the building was fit for purpose (post event we call it scrutiny) and we would be calling for heads to roll if at a later point we found we had over paid. Seems you are dammed if you do, dammed if you dont with you lot. PLEASE: Do not believe anything you read in the JEP. Also, read carefully. Hope affairs minister said it was ‘LIKELY’ in could cost 40 times more. Here are the FACTS:
Our treasury minister did what his electorate asked him to: Ensure Value for money
The time spent in negotiations, due diligence & investigation in to costs of move seem totally appropriate to me given the transaction involved
The vendor seems to have used the States as a stalking horse for sq mtr value
It’s cost us NOTHING. £8m is all ifs and buts.
Report abuse
People like Ozouf are not qualifield to make these decisions and therefore should not be taking matters into his own hands.
Why does Jersey not change the whole system – it does not work.
The problem is thousands of people don’t follow what he is doing in detail and just see him as a nice bloke – very worrying as he could be chief minister soon.
Report abuse
The statement made by Senator Ozouf, as Treasury Minister, to the States Assembly on 30th June 2011 re the proposed acquisition of Lime Grove House makes interesting reading in view of what has happened over the last few days. Particulary this: -
‘ The proposed acquisition has been
subject to lengthy negotiations, the agreed price is supported by independent valuations and the proposal forms part of the most beneficial option for meeting the needs of the States of Jersey Police. Members can be reassured that the Treasury has carried out a thorough evaluation of the available options, including a full financial appraisal.’
and this: -
‘I must also recognise the role played by the Acting Chief Executive Officer and the Assistant Chief Executive in bringing this matter to a conclusion, along with the support provided by Jersey
Property Holdings.’
http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/documents/statements/10496-49455-3062011.pdf
Report abuse
Gary’s evidence in almost conclusive, so why all this nonsense preparing defences and trying to blame others.
It’s clear to me that the problem is with Treasury and in particular Mr Ozouf?
Report abuse
Tony – Whilst I cannot comment on the accuracy of your statement over the qualifications, or lack of, with respect to Senator Ozouf the fact is that he has been appointed by the public of Jersey to make such decisions on the basis that he was, in their opinion, the best candidate. This is democracy – a very inefficient way of running things but given the recent example in Libya where tens of thousands have sacrificed their lives to become a democracy is a commodity that those living in the spoilt luxury of freedom of speech and insulated from hunger and poverty don’t appreciate.
If you are looking to apportion blame then you need to look towards those voters who don’t give sufficient time to properly study the abilities, polices and background of the candidates before placing their votes and those who can’t be bothered to vote at all. That the line up of candidates does not contain the shiniest of buttons is equally not the fault of those putting their names forward but of the Jersey public who refuse to provide the appropriate rewards to entice those better qualified and experienced to do the job properly.
As with any democracy it is us, the public, who are the organ grinder. Politicians are just the monkeys and given we pay peanuts we are getting good value for our money.
Report abuse
I have come to the conclusion that with all its troubles scrutiny needs the strong leadership of Senator Ozouf. His hard work and attention to detail is what is needed to turn around a troubled insutitution.
Ozouf for Chair of Scrutiny I say!
Report abuse
Sanity – your forgetting he was never appointed by the public as a whole to be Treasurer minister, and thats one of the problems with our government. They get into the states and get positions(even though they have no experience of running these massive commercial businesses).Yes someone has to run departments,but the system puts unqualified individuals in control(there are exceptions of course). As you the see they become power crazy, taking all the credit even though the hard work has been done by the real experts(CEO’s) who are paid £150k but are rarely mentioned!!
What the public want is for individuals to own up to mistakes and then perhaps we would have more respect for them.
Go back to 56 and read how happy our Treasurer Minister was with the work conducted at the end of June 11( states assembly documents).
Report abuse
56 Gary – That’s unbelievable, Ozouf’s now totally contradicting what he said to the States in June! Either back in June or just this week he has lied. I would say probably this week, now that it has all gone wrong since he got involved. There have been several comments about how Ozouf always seems to be right, and is never wrong. They seem to have a point! Has he ever apologised for anything, or is he perfect? I think not! He has shown that he cannot be trusted at all.
Report abuse
“As with any democracy it is us, the public, who are the organ grinder. Politicians are just the monkeys and given we pay peanuts we are getting good value for our money.”
If you compare a Jersey politician’s salary with that paid to a UK MP it is quite reasonable for what is a job involving a lot less hours and responsibility.
The house does not sit for anything like the time Westminster sits for and they do not have an average of 55,000 constituents in a seat that can be hundreds of miles away from the seat of government to look after.
The deputy and constable of St Mary look after a few hundred souls between them!
The fact is that anyone who was really competent and enterprising could pick up some consultancy on the side, etc and would not be exactly stretched.
The unattractive things about Jersey politics for me are as follows.
1) The time wasting because there is no whipping, guillotines or control over the business of the house so it just goes on and on.
2) The fact that the house does not decide much, it is like a county council with a few knobs on. Look on them as county councilors rather than MP’s and they are rather well paid.
We could increase the salary but I think we would attract the avaricious rather than the capable.
Report abuse
As far as I am concerned politicians are like managers they take the credit when things go well. They are also quite happy to dump the blame on others when things go wrong. This pumps up their own sense of importance and gives them a false sense of worth. Consequently I have little respect for either.
When things constantly go wrong it gets beyond a joke. We are in for a very rough ride in a few months time….don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Report abuse
Other Mike (40) is whether he would like to spend any of our money on a new HQ.
Just so Mike. But where you are very wrong and this debate is not absurd is why, given the CoM apparently approved the need, did Philip Ozouf then screw it up?
Philip Ozouf clearly approved of the £20 million spend, daft as it may have been. Too date all the thumbs down would be appeared to be directed at Philip Ozouf. It was his cock-up, one way or another. He should go and go now!
Report abuse
Lets have a protest – a peaceful one until they quit.
Follow them around EVERYWHERE they go
Not Speaking just staring
Holding Placards – GO NOW !
If everyone does it they can’t arrest us all
Report abuse
>>>Gary
Posted September 2, 2011 at 10:14 am
The statement made by Senator Ozouf, as Treasury Minister, to the States Assembly on 30th June 2011 re the proposed acquisition of Lime Grove House makes interesting reading in view of what has happened over the last few days. Particulary this: -
http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/documents/statements/10496-49455-3062011.pdf <<<
Bearing in mind the above, this now looks to have become a matter of resignation for Ozouf. That's how serious it is.
In any other part of the British Isles the professional press would be leaping on this new twist in the story and *demanding* an explanation from the politician in question regarding his contradictory statments.
But. This is Jersey.
Report abuse
Senator Ozouf’s initial statement on Lime Grove, on his blog site, states how – “We were disappointed to learn of this development” and “This latest development is regrettable and disappointing”. Furthermore, “I am extremely grateful for the hard work of our staff throughout this challenging project and I would like to thank all those involved”. What, even Property Holdings who you have since blamed as the cause of this mess?
Come on JEP, CTV, and BBC pull your fingers out and demand explanations from Senator Ozouf regarding all his hugely contradictory statements, as mentioned above by 56 Gary, 61 George and 66 Island Dweller.
Meanwhile, Senator Ozouf do the right thing over this and resign now.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer and the Assistant Chief Executive should also resign, for their shambollic attempts to re-negotiate at the last minute, as that is what lost this property for the Police.
Report abuse
Le marquand, ozouf, Richardson all have their fingerprints over all this fiasco. Warcup was also involved when he was here…… Perhaps Le Marquand, ozouf and Richardson should all follow war cup’s lead and resign?
Who is in charge @ property holdings and how has he avoided the tricky questions?
This represents the serious, worst, side of jersey politics and civil service and the clear out of those responsible needs to represent a thorough cleansing. And fast.
Report abuse
A purpose built unit could be built on land we already own…for a lot…yes a lot less….question is who is set to gain….you’ll have your own suspects I’m sure.
Report abuse
Mark take the point in a way, although we do not know how the inetraction between Property Services and the Treasury worked. I have dealt with Property Holdings myself and I would suggest you should not be presumptuous!
Certainly don’t agree with your usual diatribe about Ozouf going now – your opinion on this is absurd but, hey, it’s your opinion.
What is an absoulte, irrefutable fact is that taxpayers have not lost £8 million. We have not put it down somehwere and forgot where we put it. We haven’t given it away. It hasn’t been stolen. The headline was based on a political opinion that, in future, we may have to spend £8 million more on a different property, as yet unidentified or unnamed. It remains possible that an alternative solution is found which costs us less than the cost of the Roundabout Monstrosity – if that is the case, we haven’t “won” £8 million either.
Report abuse
#65 I’d love to, but I doubt I’d get enough exercise!
Report abuse