SEVEN States Members have been named in a formal complaint to the States of Jersey Complaints Board, it has emerged.
Several senior politicians including Health Minister Deputy Tom Binet, Environment Minister Steve Luce and Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham have been criticised by Paul and Sally Wood for alleged failures in their handling of a long-running saga regarding the site of the Hospital’s catering unit.
In an official complaint to the States Complaints Board, the Woods also name St Peter Constable Richard Vibert and their district representatives Deputies Lucy Stephenson, Kristina Moore and Ian Gorst. Deputy Farnham is listed as a representative of St Mary, St Peter and St Ouen.
The Woods have spent almost a decade urging their elected representatives and several planning officers to ensure the businesses and services operating at the facility – which sits just metres away from their home in Ville du Bocage – abide by the conditions first set when the park’s development was approved in 1984.
The couple argue that daily nuisances include “excessive noise” and “awful smells” which have impacted their home life and health.
The pair said the issues became most prominent when the hospital’s catering unit was transferred there in 2017, but say nothing has improved.
Before then, they had lived in their home adjacent to the Technical Park for around three decades without cause for complaint.
Earlier this year, Sally suffered two major heart attacks in April, which she claims were caused by stress induced by activities at the park.
In June, the Health Department confirmed that the catering facility will not be transferred to the new hospital at Overdale.
And, the Woods met Deputy Binet this September to discuss the health-run facility but Sally said nothing came of it once again despite numerous requests for an agreed action plan.
In the complaint letter, seen by the JEP, Sally refers to points upheld in a similar complaint about noise and odour made by the neighbours of Northern Leaf cannabis farm against the Infrastructure and Environment Department earlier this year.
The Complaints Board concluded that the I&E Department acted unjustly in favour of Northern Leaf and that Statutory Nuisances (Jersey) Law 1999 was weak and misinterpreted.
“I have been left with no alternative but to file a complaint to the States of Jersey Complaints Board,” Mrs Wood told the JEP.
“I feel extremely disappointed by the inaction of all the government officials and the departments involved in this long ongoing battle, and all the additional stress and strain, which I believe was a main contributing factor in my recent very serious health condition,” she continued.
“It is also very disappointing that no extra effort has been undertaken by any of them in the knowledge of just how seriously ill I have been.”
Now the complaint has been submitted to the States Greffe, the respective States Members will be asked to respond.
