HOME owners who were pursued by the government for £50,000 because their properties were deemed to have “encroached” on the foreshore have been refunded following a lengthy battle.
Alan Luce and Julian Mallinson lodged a complaint in 2016 after being forced to pay the compensation between them when selling their properties at Grève d’Azette.
Over several decades, a number of properties encroached onto the foreshore, which was previously owned by the Crown, as home owners built over or on the sea wall or fitted ladders leading onto the beach.
However, when the foreshore was gifted to the public in 2015, the government decided to pursue the home owners with encroachment fines, causing both Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson huge personal stress.
Their struggles prompted a public outcry, a critical Scrutiny review, an official complaint against government which was upheld, and ultimately a new foreshore policy brought forward by Deputy Carolyn Labey which was approved by the States Assembly.
Both Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson spoke of their relief at receiving their payments yesterday morning and praised the past and present Infrastructure Ministers, Deputy Tom Binet and Constable Andy Jehan, for their help, as well as Deputies Labey and Philip Bailhache.
However, the pair said they felt their experience still raised wider questions about the machinery of government and conduct of certain officials.
“It is unacceptable that the directors of Property Holdings ignored the opinions and recommendations of the Jersey Law Society, the Complaints Board and the Scrutiny panel and acted in a wholly incompetent and unjust manner that has resulted in unnecessary expense to the taxpayer,” Mr Mallinson added.
Back in 2019, the States Complaints Board found that the behaviour of the Infrastructure Department and Jersey Property Holdings was “unjust, oppressive and improperly discriminatory”.
But it took several years for the government to act – and, even with sympathetic ministers on board, Mr Luce said he had the impression of a department “dragging its feet”, with payment taking several months to materialise.
At the end of last year, Deputy Binet – who was outspoken on the foreshore issue before he became a politician – approved payments to be made to Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson after commissioning a report from former Bailiff Deputy Bailhache, who recommended that ex-gratia payments be made with interest.
The process was frustrated, however, when Deputy Binet was replaced as minister by Deputy Steve Ahier ahead of the vote of no confidence in Deputy Kristina Moore.
While serving in the role in an acting capacity, Deputy Ahier instructed Jersey Property Holdings to stop the payments until a new minister was chosen.
Deputy Ahier added that he was not consulted on the decision, which Deputy Binet made shortly before he resigned – adding that he felt it seemed “inappropriate” and “a bit rash”.
Upon assuming the role of Infrastructure Minister after the collapse of Deputy Moore’s government, Mr Jehan wrote a letter clearly instructing civil servants to make the payments without delay.
After several weeks with no movement, despite follow-ups from Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson, Mr Jehan sent a second instruction towards the end of the month.
Mr Luce and Mr Mallinson confirmed that they had received refunds for the fines yesterday morning.
