Assistant Chief Minister Rowland Huelin, who requested the in-committee debate following a vote earlier this month, said it was an ‘important debate not just for the Members of this Assembly but for all Islanders’. An in-committee debate is one in which there is no vote.
The States agreed on 3 March that a common policy on population should be developed by the Council of Ministers and that ‘action should be taken to provide more responsive controls on the number of migrants who acquire the right to settle permanently in Jersey’.
Deputy Huelin said the debate would allow Members to raise themes that were important for them and provide ‘valuable initial input’ ahead of formal proposals being brought to the Assembly.
Several Members raised the issue of housing during the debate. Senator Sam Mézec said housing was a ‘fundamental issue’ for people’s wellbeing in the Island.
‘One of the lessons that has got to be learned when putting a new population policy together is it’s actually got to be realistic,’ he said.
Senator Mézec said the Assembly should also be ‘wary of what sort of talent and skills we are going to need to have come into the Island’. He added: ‘Not all of those will be high-earning jobs or business leaders. Lots of those are likely to be jobs like carers.’
A lack of adequate housing was the ‘greatest problem with a population policy,’ said Constable John Le Bailly.
Population policy was ‘not about keeping people out’, he said, adding: ‘We need people with skills, in order to have a variable economy.’
Deputy Steve Luce said: ‘Population and housing are the two most talked about subjects in our community’.
He expressed concerns over increasing numbers of young people leaving the Island and not coming back, due to a lack of housing and the cost of what was available.
Deputy John Young called for a Citizens’ Assembly for a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the issue. Deputy Young said he ‘seriously worried’ about future generations and access to new homes.
Meanwhile, Deputy Inna Gardiner said there was an inconsistency between work permits and housing qualifications that needed to be addressed, and nothing should affect those who had already made Jersey their home. Deputy Judy Martin agreed that changes should not be ‘retrospective’. New immigration controls after Brexit had also not been tested due to Covid, said Deputy Martin, who said she was wary of the unknowns still involved.
Senator Lyndon Farnham said a population policy presented a ‘really important opportunity for the future of growth and development of the Island’. ‘Managed sustainable growth,’ he said. ‘We need a policy so we can plan and manage our infrastructure accordingly.’
Deputy Rob Ward sounded a word of caution, saying that future population policy was ‘a little like exercise’.
‘We know it needs to be addressed but we ignore it and hope it will be fine,’ said Deputy Ward.
He said Jersey faced the ‘unique’ challenge of being an Island with a growing population, when many other islands were facing the opposite problem of a dwindling population.
Deputy Ward called Jersey a ‘diverse society’ and stressed that ‘any policy must not create tiers within our society’.
