New North Quay, St. Helier - erection of fencing - review

NEW NORTH QUAY, ST. HELIER: ERECTION OF FENCING - REVIEW _______________

Lodged au Greffe on 17th September 2002 by Deputy G.C.L. Baudains of St. Clement

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STATES OF JERSEY

STATES GREFFE

150 2002 P.163

Price code: A

PROPOSITION

THE STATES are asked to decide whether they are of opinion -

  to  r e f e r to their Act dated 18th June 2002, in which they requested the Harbours and Airport Committee to

reconsider its decision to restrict access to parts of the New North Quay, St.  Helier, through the erection of fencing, and requested the Committee to replace the fencing, if necessary, with fencing in a location that met the needs of all port users including pleasure boat owners, and to the subsequent decision of the Committee on 28th August 2002 to maintain its decision, and to request the Harbours and Airport Committee -

(a ) to readdress the above decisions and to fully research alternative fencing options;

(b ) to obtain an independent security/safety audit of the alternative fencing options in (a) above; (c ) to report to the States with its conclusions not later than 10th December 2002.

DEPUTY G.C.L. BAUDAINS OF ST. CLEMENT

Report

The President of the Harbours and Airport Committee, in a letter dated 4th September 2002 addressed to all States Members, explained his Committee's reasons for upholding its original decision with regard to the security fencing recently erected on the New North Quay. It seems to me that the decision of the States to request that Committee to reconsider the original decision has not been addressed properly.

The contents of that letter lead me to believe that the information supplied to the Committee, and on which it based its judgement, was incomplete, misleading and, in places, inaccurate. For example, in the report dated 5th August 2002 prepared for the Harbours and Airport Committee entitled "New North Quay - Committee Considerations" (which was circulated to all Members with the above letter) it is stated -

" T h e m  ain forum for this review (i.e. Security and Safety implementations) was within a special meeting set up for new North Quay Port users, our own internal Operations Group, and secondary conversations with the St. Helier Boat Owners Association. On further review of the assessment, in consultation with relevant port users (St. Helier Boat Owners Association, and New North Quay Commercial users in particular) it is clear that the original proposals remain valid for the reasons detailed previously."

Representatives of the St. Helier Boat Owners Association have informed me that they have not been consulted, written to or telephoned by the Harbours Department on this matter.

At its Committee Meeting held on 26th June 2002, the Committee agreed that it would "await H.M. Attorney General's advice and would wish to visit the area before it considered the matter further". It is my understanding that at the time of agreeing to re-affirm its original decision, the Committee had done neither.

The information supporting that decision suggests that the department has only considered one fencing option. That option is dismissed with the suggestion that it would be "operationally impossible" and "impossible to achieve" without any real explanation.

In view of the above, it is my opinion that there has been a reluctance to examine alternatives and an attempt to justify the existing situation with unsatisfactory information.

I am disappointed that the Committee, in responding to the decisions of the States of 18th June 2002, has not seen fit to ensure that the information it was using was robust, or even to see the problem for itself by availing itself of a site visit. I believe that as a result the Committee's decision is defective and must be revisited.

This proposition has no manpower implications and, as the Harbours and Airport Committee is a trading committee, there should be no additional cost to the taxpayer.