Speaking at a hearing of the Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel yesterday, Senator Lyndon Farnham said that he believes the Island would benefit if Condor Ferries had another Clipper able to take passengers, vehicles and freight rather than a dedicated freight ship as it has currently.
Meanwhile, a review into the services provided by Condor Ferries is hoped to be completed by June next year, the minister told the panel.
Questioned on the progress of a comprehensive service review of the ferry service by panel chairman Simon Brée, Senator Farnham said that he wanted it to be completed ‘as soon as possible’.
The minister then suggested changes to the make-up of the Condor fleet.
He said: ‘I believe that the fleet would be more robust if instead of having a dedicated freight ship we had another Clipper, which could take passengers, vehicles and freight.’
Jersey’s alcohol licensing policies were also discussed, with a report due on the matter ‘as soon as possible’.
Assistant Economic Development Minister Steve Pallett said that Jersey’s alcohol licensing policies need to be looked at ‘as a matter of urgency’.
He said the department was looking at how independent licensing assemblies in England and Wales operate, with a view to adopting a newer model in the Island.
‘The laws in Jersey are almost 42 years old – they have not been updated since 1972. It’s about time it was updated because the current system doesn’t work very well,’ he said.
He added that he hoped that the review would be completed as early as January next year.
During the hearing other matters discussed included the success of Locate Jersey, the Innovation Fund and the rural economy.
Senator Farnham said that Locate Jersey, which was set up to attract high net worth individuals to the Island, had helped raise £1.2 million of stamp duty annually over the last five years through wealthy immigrants buying property.
He also said that businesses and jobs had developed through the work of Locate Jersey, which has a running cost of around £750,000 per year.
Senator Philip Ozouf, who is also an Assistant Minister with the department, said the Innovation Fund was being used to create the ‘jobs of the future’ and was important, among other things, for the development of Jersey’s financial services industry.
On the rural economy, Senator Farnham said that his department had ‘resisted pressure’ to reduce the level of funding to support farming from its present level of £2 million a year, which he said was at its minimum.
Deputy David Johnson was also on the Scrutiny Panel while Economic Development Assistant Minister Murray Norton was also in attendance.
AN independent report by naval engineers Houlder released this morning gives the Condor Liberation a clean bill of health.
Yes, there are recommendations which could help improve the reliability of, and comfort on, the fast-ferry service to the UK, but the conclusions are clear and unambiguous – Liberation is, the report says, safe, stable and well suited to operating in the Channel.
Initial problems which ignited wave after wave of dissatisfaction in Jersey and Guernsey were no more than would be expected, it said.
For its part, Condor has committed to implementing all of Houlder’s recommendations.
So has it all been a storm in a teacup? Has Condor been the innocent victim of the kangaroo court of social media? In some cases, the answer may well have been yes. But equally, the self-evident PR disaster which has unfolded over recent months has left Condor in a pit which the company has had a hand in digging.
Critical posts on social media have become more and more exaggerated as the collective frustration of Channel Islands’ communities has increased.
The tendency of some to skew the debate with unevidenced claims has not helped, once again demonstrating the power of the Facebook and Twitter lynch-mob.
But there have been genuine concerns and grievances.
The disruption caused recently when both the Liberation and the Clipper were out of service is a case in point and revealed the weakness of a one-fast-boat strategy on the northern route.
The frustration felt by so many passengers, who said that they were left in the dark about changes to their travel arrangements, was fuelled by a breakdown in communication when the company’s systems were overloaded.
On Wednesday, Condor sent an email to thousands apologising and explaining what the company was doing and had done to get its ferries back in service. The operator pledged to improve communication – and so it should, especially at times when it is needed most.
It should also learn that insisting everything in the garden is rosy when it clearly isn’t is a strategy guaranteed to fail in an age of social media scepticism.
Today, though, it is time to turn the page and start a new chapter yet to be written. Condor must work harder to realise customer expectations. But it must also now be given a fair chance to restore the faith islanders have lost.
It is in no one’s interests for this debate not to move on.
