THE Environment Minister and his officers will not attend a public hearing due to take place this morning into a long-running complaint from a St Helier resident who says her life has been “destroyed” by noise and vibration caused by nearby electrical substations over concerns about how the session will be conducted.
Deputy Steve Luce said he was concerned about the extent of personal allegations forming part of the grievance due to be considered by the States Complaints Panel and said he was “not prepared to put my officers in a position where they could be subject to personal attack”.
He also drew attention to an apparent “lack of clear standard published procedures” governing how the SCP operates.
Scheduled to take place this morning in the States Assembly building, the SCP hearing will focus on whether the Environment Department acted unreasonably in refusing to issue an abatement notice over a reported disturbance at the home of Michelle Le Cornu.
Ms Le Cornu, who lives in a cottage near the bottom of Trinity Hill, last year said that her home of more than 50 years had become unliveable due to noise and vibration from two nearby Jersey Electricity substations.
Numerous Environmental Health officers visited the property to assess the level of disturbance but concluded that the thresholds for a statutory nuisance had not been met and as such did not bring any formal action.
Jersey Electricity also denied last year that its substations were responsible, with COO Mark Preece saying at the time that they had been “unable to find any concrete evidence that the substations are the source of the noises or vibrations being experienced by Mrs Le Cornu”.
Explaining why his department would not be getting involved in today’s hearing, Deputy Luce explained: “Due to concerns regarding the way in which the panel was conducted at the previous hearing, neither myself nor my officers shall be attending this hearing.
“The States Complaints Board’s role is to review administrative decisions. In this case, the complaint includes extensive personal allegations, and I am not prepared to put my officers in a position where they could be subject to personal attack.”
He added that his team had “engaged and already supplied the Complaints Board with all evidence of the decision-making process to support the Board’s understanding of the decision to not serve an abatement notice in this case”.
“We believe the panel continues to overstep the boundaries of its remit. We have sought to engage with the States Greffe and the Board in a constructive manner, in order to see improvements in this process for all concerned,” he continued.
“Without clear standard published procedures to ensure the hearing remains focused on the facts and is conducted fairly for all parties, neither myself nor my officers will attend.”
An abatement notice is a tool that can be used by authorities to require a person or company to stop or reduce a nuisance, such as noise or vibration, that exceeds a statutory threshold.
