The Council of Ministers’ financial plans for 2021 to 2024 are due to be debated on 14 December and, by the start of this week, States Members had already lodged 18 amendments outlining ways in which they think the document could be improved.
And now two backbenchers – Deputy Mike Higgins and St Brelade Constable Mike Jackson – have lodged a further three amendments.
Deputy Higgins has lodged two amendments which call for £1.2 million, which had been set aside to pay for a new firearms range for the police at Crabbé, to be withdrawn.
He would instead like to see £1 million of the money used to help pay for a new home for the Jersey Sea Cadets, who recently moved to temporary accommodation at the former police station at Rouge Bouillon.
‘It is my contention that the Home Affairs Department is buying a gold-plated firing range for the States of Jersey police for its £1.2 million and that the money could be better used for the Sea Cadets unit,’ his amendment says.
The Deputy would like to see the remaining £200,000 given to the Jersey Institute of Law to fund better support for legal aid applicants.
Meanwhile, Mr Jackson has proposed that £300,000 from the Climate Emergency Fund, which was established this year, is spent on ‘tree preservation initiatives’ in 2021. He would also like £75,000 to be spent in the same way annually from 2022 to 2024.
Other amendments lodged this week include Senator Ian Gorst’s proposals calling for a list of government assets which could be sold to be drawn up next year to pay off the debt created by the Covid-19 crisis.
Meanwhile, Senator Kristina Moore would like to see GST waived on environmentally friendly items, such as solar panels and heat pumps, while Deputy Montfort Tadier has called for £2.6 million to be spent on revamping Elizabeth Castle.
