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Keeping the green zone green
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That presumption should clearly be included in the revamped plan, although Islanders can be forgiven for questioning the extent to which it is taken seriously when the States get the bit between their teeth over potential green zone projects that are ‘in the Island interest’.
Even though a new Island Plan is curently being drafted, the States will be asked tomorrow to amend the existing one to allow the provision of homes for the over-55s on greenfield sites. Unsurprisingly, it is being said that this runs counter to the principle of no further countryside encroachment.
Those who say that an exception must be made in the case of what is often described as sheltered housing will cite ‘Island interest’ as a departure from policy. However, as Jersey Farmers Union president John Le Maistre has pointed out, it is questionable whether the public gain in this particular example of rule-bending is sufficient to offset the danger of a damaging precedent being set.
Mr Le Maistre also sees a sinister relationship between the proposed rezoning and the gradual tacit acceptance that growth rather than restraint must be the ruling influence in Island life.
Chief Minister Frank Walker has denied that the population floodgates are about to be opened and the idea that Imagine Jersey 2035 was merely a softening-up exercise to prepare the Island for further immigration has been officially rejected, but deeds will have to match these assertions with a high degree of consistency if they are to be generally believed.
In a recent speech pledging that ‘keeping Jersey special’ was a priority for the Council of Ministers, Senator Walker promised that the preservation of agricultural land as a source of essential foodstuffs and as an element of the Island’s heritage was among the Council’s initiatives.
Just how an amendment to an obsolete Island Plan calculated to sanction further incursions into the countryside for a category of accommodation that no one has satisfactorily shown is in significant demand can be made to match the Council’s stated goal is something of a mystery.
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