Looking on the bright side

Well I don’t HAVE to apologise and they haven’t asked for an apology, but they deserve one nevertheless. I made the silly mistake in a recent column of accusing them of making the decision that every shop should be forbidden from opening on Christmas Day. In fact they were only culpable, and it was a decision that the whole States made with – would you believe it – nine Constables voting against?

I’m sorry that I didn’t check the files going back to 2009 to find out how the decision was made, but it was still a silly decision. Following the success of this year’s total closure of shops, I’m looking forward to the States deciding to close the electricity company, the police station, the hospital and even the TV and radio stations on Christmas Day so that everyone can spend it with their family.

Anyhow I’m pleased to deflect the blame from the constables, although I’m afraid the position of the constables administering a law which the majority of them opposed also highlights the rather peculiar way in which this island is governed. Perhaps 2013 will see some progress in government reform, including what is to happen with the Constables.

The Constables, of course, won’t have to worry about a job in 2013. Unless there is a totally radical shake-up, which in Jersey is extremely unlikely, they will still have a parish to look after.

Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the nearly 2,000 unemployed at the end of the year. Some of them – perhaps many of them – will not be able to find another job for a long time as there aren’t many local businesses expanding at this very difficult time.

But all is not lost. There is a fairly generous Social Security safety net to fall back on, and there’s lots of help with temporary work, re-training and re-skilling. Some real jobs will also be coming on line soon, following the States decision to agree a new economic stimulus package by bringing forward infrastructure projects, including new housing.

This should soak up some unemployment, but it will take time. It would undoubtedly have been better if the States hadn’t turned off the tap once the initial stimulus programme was completed. Turning on the tap and then turning it off again just ensured that the economy, which was still in dire straits, took a further dive and has probably made a second stimulus programme even more necessary and expensive.

It’s easy to be clever in hindsight, of course, and most experts predicted that the UK and European economies would be doing much better by now. However perhaps the States weren’t looking far enough ahead, which is a common complaint. Hopefully they have learnt from this far from normal experience.

Certainly they seem to be very focused now on the short-term necessity of getting people back to work. Let’s also hope that they are also thinking of how to keep them in work, and also grow the economy in the medium to long term. Luckily, we have at last got an Economic Growth and Diversification Strategy, but at present that’s all it is – a strategy, or just words on a paper.

As we move into a New Year, it’s also a totally natural inclination to want to ease red tape so that the economy is free to grow. Certainly we must get rid of useless rules and restrictions, but that doesn’t include the Planning Law. As the endless debate over Plémont shows we are still very concerned with the environment, and we don’t want to damage it any further.

Plémont was actually about improving the environment which the majority of States members obviously thought was too costly in this case. I have sympathy with that view, not because of the amount of money required but that nearly a majority of our States members were ready to hand it over. These are largely the same politicians who have for many years been crying wolf and saying that we have to make difficult decisions because there’s no money left. It seems that ‘contingencies’ is a pot of gold to be dipped into when something comes along that you support.

Anyhow the decision has been made and although I’m not happy about it either, I will just have to live with it. However in a new positive mood (my New Year’s resolution), I hope that the Plémont debacle will serve as an example of what we should never allow to happen again. We must not let any more of our ‘green and pleasant land’ to be taken over for development ever again.

This should be the line in the sand people keep on talking about – no more development, anywhere where there isn’t a building already, and for whatever reason. I don’t care if it’s for first time buyers, last time buyers, sheltered housing, a school, a hospital – anything. It gets fitted into the land that’s available on the Island Plan and nowhere else. We’ve already used up too much of the Island by making exceptions.

That means it’s even more important in 2013 that right planning decisions are made. Developers should not expect that their pet scheme can be rushed through just because they are going to provide a few jobs, as some apparently believe now. There’s quite a lot of space already available for development, particularly if we’re sensible about tall buildings in already urbanised areas.

Building high on the Waterfront is better than building on a green field site and still provides a boost to the economy. There may even be room to be a little more adventurous with the design than we’ve been so far. It will upset some of the architectural purists, but as long as it excites other people that’s better than being stuck in a time warp.

So as we are dragged screaming and shouting into a New Year, we can’t expect much respite from our economic and environmental woes. However I suggest that we all follow the advice the character gave to Brian in the Monty Python film ‘The Life of Brian’. Always look on the bright side of life.

If you do that you will see that there are plenty of opportunities as well as plenty of problems beckoning us into 2013.