TWO Islanders subject to “unjust and oppressive” action from the government over alleged encroachment on the foreshore should receive a total of £75,000 compensation, a report has stated.
Deputy Sir Philip Bailhache was commissioned to write the report as the latest chapter of a long-running row involving development at properties on the St Clement coast by landowners Julian Mallinson and Alan Luce.
Over several decades, a number of properties encroached onto the foreshore, which was previously owned by the Crown, as homeowners built over or on the sea wall or fitted ladders leading onto the beach. However, when the foreshore was gifted to the public in 2015, the government decided to pursue the homeowners with encroachment fines.
The former Bailiff, who has represented St Clement for the past two years, states in the report, which has been lodged with the States Assembly this week, that he felt there was “a very reasonable expectation” that compensation should be paid to the two men, who took their cases to the States Complaints Board.
The report recommends that interest at 3% per year should be added to the compensation payments, making a total of £32,114 for Mr Mallinson and £42,293 for Mr Luce.
Deputy Bailhache adds: “I further recommend that the [Infrastructure] Minister consider whether the making of these payments should be accompanied by an apology, on behalf of the government, for actions which were characterised by the Complaints Board as unjust and oppressive.”
Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan, who took up his post in late January, the month after Deputy Bailhache submitted his report to the previous minister, said he was fulfilling a pledge made to the States Assembly in May that the report would be published once legal advice had been provided.
