A SENIOR minister faced a series of awkward questions about Jersey Airport from backbench politicians in the States Assembly yesterday.
The grilling of External Relations Minister Ian Gorst followed the revelation that the airport had been placed under “special attention” by the director of civil aviation as a result of concerns over a restructuring process.
Deputy Gorst, whose role includes responsibility for civil aviation matters, said that the special attention move represented the lowest level of the “escalation procedure ” used by the regulating office’s in both Jersey and the UK and that Ports of Jersey was now working to address the areas highlighted.
But the minister was accused of seeking to take a “nothing to see here” approach by Deputy Jonathan Renouf.
Deputy Renouf said: “I’ve been told that the airport failed two security checks, that the control tower is not staffed with appropriately-qualified personnel and that a new recruit meant to address the shortage of suitably qualified staff has since left.”
Deputy Gorst said that special attention did not mean there would be sanctions against the airport or a risk that operations would be suspended, and that a further audit would be carried out later this month. Once the audit had been carried out, the minister said he would ask about the specific points raised by Deputy Renouf.
Responding to a further question from Deputy Helen Miles, Deputy Gorst said that in a meeting with the director of civil aviation he had been assured there was no risk to security. He also told Deputy Lucy Stephenson that he recognised this was an area that Members were concerned about and that he would seek to publish the follow-up audit in order to “ensure that Islanders continue to have confidence” in the Airport.
Deputy Montfort Tadier, chair of the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel, called for greater transparency from the government and said he would like a full timeline of how the situation had developed.
Deputy Gorst said the special attention move had been made on 10 December, and that he had been briefed about the issue in early February.
The minister added that while he supported the principle of ensuring the Airport was operating safely, he was also conscious of the need for Jersey to have economically sustainable harbour operations.
“We’ve got to get away from big bureaucracy that hinders us from doing our everyday work and which doesn’t have Islanders at the heart of their operation,” he said.
