St Helier eco plan due by the end of the year

St Helier eco plan due by the end of the year

Earlier this year the parish approved proposals to declare a climate change emergency before the States did so and has set up a working group to help draft a plan, which will be presented by Constable Simon Crowcroft, by the end of the year.

Nigel Jones, chairman of Jersey In Transition, said that a series of brainstorming sessions had been held to gather ideas from parishioners who had volunteered to join the working group.

‘Basically we sat in tables in circles and discussed what came to our minds on certain topics and wrote it down on post-it notes. We then stuck them on boards and arranged them under headings,’ he said.

‘We looked at what the parish can do itself and also what it can do to encourage residents and visitors to the parish to reduce carbon emissions. We looked at the problems and potential solutions.

‘We then asked the person who wrote the post-it note to add two numbers – one on how easy to achieve the idea is and secondly what benefits it could bring.

‘If you score on one to five and multiply the two numbers together then you get a number between one and 25 and it helps you prioritise the ideas.’

He added: Drinking water fountains, for example, would be up there among the ones with a very high score – easy to achieve, they don’t cost much, and you have the very good benefits of people using less disposable plastic bottles.’

Mr Jones said that other ideas have included subsidised electric bikes, reducing the cost of public transport and encouraging people to insulate their homes and businesses.

Jason Turner, chief executive of the Parish of St Helier, said that draft plans should be presented to parishioners in the autumn.

‘We have heard ideas from everyone that attended the working groups and are going to look at them in more detail over the summer, while the group enjoys their summer holidays,’ he said.

‘We will be looking at the different ideas in terms of cost, practicalities, timescales and deliverability and importantly how each idea would affect our carbon footprint.

‘In the autumn, we’ll bring back this information to the working group where there will be an opportunity for people to look and contribute towards the emerging plan before we bring it back before a Parish Assembly, before the end of the year.’

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