They say, if an opportunity comes your way, grab it with both hands.

Back in July, I attended a public meeting at the Town Hall hoping to learn more about the proposal by TTS to increase the storage of incinerator ash in a ‘headland’ of earth-covered cells along the reclamation site.

During the evening, we were all invited to visit the site and see for ourselves what was going on and what was being proposed. It was a brave offer, since the majority of the audience was – to judge by the nature of the questions and comments – opposed to the scheme.

I too had arrived in sceptical mood, since I readily confess to harbouring a long-lasting resentment of the decision to inflict industrial development on the island’s south coast so close to empty sandy beaches and a fragile marine environment.

From my vantage point overlooking the St Clement coastal grand prix circuit, cherished views of Elizabeth Castle and the mail ships in St Aubin’s bay are history. So what more was there to lose? I duly signed up, and turned up. I appear to have been the only taker so far, which is a shame, since there’s no substitute for first-hand evidence.

Now, I won’t go so far as to describe it as my Damascus Road experience, but what I encountered certainly gave me pause for thought. The first impression is of the sheer enormity of the site, and the cool realisation that it’s here to stay.

I suppose you could have said the same about the granite cliffs at Sorel before Ronez began to have other ideas. But in this case, any prospect of subsequently digging it all up and transporting the ash to an alternative location is obviously out of the question.

The fall-out from the UK inquiry into the explosion at the Buncefield Oil Depot in 2005, rules out public access near the fuel farm, so for the time being at least, it’s all ‘dead’ land. Unlike our fellow Bailiwick, which seems incapable of making up its mind in the hope others will bail it out – we actually have a waste strategy, and despite criticism of the ‘gather it all and burn it’ approach, we know we can’t recycle everything.

So, with the decommissioning of Bellozanne, the new EfW plant is probably the best option in town. TSS has done its level best to turn the existing site into something less ghastly than was predicted.

The building is self-contained and quiet, with landscaping around the site and best practice storage methods. You can’t hide a waste processing site, but you can soften its impact. Be thankful we’re not faced with the issues surrounding a nuclear processing or generating site.

But let’s set our artificial promontory in a wider context. While watching BBC2 the other evening, I was drawn to the peripatetic Nicholas Crane offering aerial views of Scarborough.

There, alongside what was once a thriving seafront and prosperous fishing harbour, now home to expensive yachts and cruisers – you can probably feel a parallel coming – is an enormous grassy headland jutting out into the sea.

It may be of the natural kind, but it dominates the landscape and offers sympathetic shelter to the port and town. On the man-made front, former industrial areas of the UK and Western Europe once blighted by mountains of spoil from mine-working, have been turned into grassy parkland which enhances the environment.

As an island community, we would also probably welcome free access to enjoy the same sort of cliff-top sea views available from Noirmont and Plemont all returned to their former natural emptiness.

But one step at a time – at least when completed, whatever lies beneath, the headland will be green on top. It could even offer a lofty plinth for the lonely Gormley statue destined for the foreshore at Havre des Pas. If anything of cultural relevance should see the light of day in that neighbourhood, it should surely relate to Victor Hugo.

While on the subject of Anthony Gormley’s work, not a million miles from his famous ‘Angel of the North’ which spreads its giant steel wings above travellers passing near Gateshead on the A1, are the beginnings of yet another exciting work of art on a grand scale designed by landscape artist, Charles Jenks called ‘Northumberlandia’.

If that sounds a bit of a mouthful, it’s also named the ‘Goddess of the North’. Using soil and clay excavated from the near-by pit workings, it will be fashioned into a huge earth sculpture resembling a reclining female figure.

When completed in 2013, she will be immense, rising 34 metres high and extending 400 metres across parkland. The 75 acre site will include lakes and trees and be open to the public to enjoy in homage to the surrounding mining community. So, from slag heap to green goddess, an inspired scheme to provide a public amenity out of all the nasty stuff nobody wanted and hated the sight of.

Now before I advocate our local ‘berm’ – a word I had previously only associated with the late Peter Sellers – should be crafted into some monumental mermaid, I am very aware of the glaring obstacle standing in the way of a similar people-friendly asset, and that is the restrictions imposed by the Health and Safety Executive over public access near fuel installations.

But think 25 years ahead, when the headland’s complete and the fuel farm’s been moved out of harm’s way – that’s assuming there’s any oil left to be stored by then! What an inspiring opportunity for a lasting feature to enhance our coastline – and we wouldn’t have had to pay for it!