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Population control is about ebb and flow
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From Daniel Wimberley.
THE opening sentence of your report on my proposals for a ‘population freeze’ (JEP, Saturday 25 June) was untrue and misleading. In view of the importance of this issue please will you publish this letter in response?
Under the headline ‘Call To Freeze The Population’ the opening sentence read: ‘Immigration should be frozen until ministers get a proper grip on population policy, a States deputy has proposed.’
I am proposing no such thing. With no people coming in, we would not replace our key workers, like surgeons etc. and the population would fall rapidly.
Funnily enough this was exactly the line taken by some States Members in the last population debate. ‘Where will we get our doctors from?’ The answer is ‘from the ebb and flow’ which is correctly described by Ben Quérée lower down in the article.
I am proposing that the ebb and flow of roughly 2,500 people in and out of the Island in any one year be managed so that the population remains the same. This has to take into account the balance between those being born and those dying.
At present there are around 240 more births than deaths each year. So for a steady population we would have to reduce the numbers coming in by just ten per cent.
When the Council of Ministers sets a target in terms of 150 more households coming in each year than leaving, or in terms of the ‘growth in the working population’ and do not mention births and deaths, then you know they are pulling the wool over your eyes.
You can decide for yourself if this is deliberate deceit (i.e. they want the population to rise faster than they are saying publicly) or incompetence (they just forgot that births and deaths are a factor in the population equation).
The endless growth in population affects the quality of life for all Islanders. It puts pressure on our countryside and on our urban areas. It creates a permanent housing shortage. House prices will rise forever, creating more inflation and putting Jersey housing out of reach for many who would wish to return, not to mention those who are already here. And it makes it impossible ever to solve our housing problem.
It is a vital issue. Watch to see which way they vote. And when candidates at election time talk about migration on its own and not about the overall population figure, or waffle on about ‘limiting’ or ‘controlling’ population, it is meaningless. What is the end population which they want to see?
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