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3.8 Connétable A.S. Crowcroft of St. Helier of the Chief Minister regarding the Council's fulfilment of the environmental goals set out in the Strategic Plan:
What assessment, if any, will the Council of Ministers undertake of the report The Environment in Figures: A report on the condition of Jersey's environment 2011-2015 (R.92/2016) and the Council's fulfilment of the environmental goals set out in the Strategic Plan, and what action, if any, will the Chief Minister take to ensure any improvements required are made in order to achieve those goals?
Senator I.J. Gorst (The Chief Minister):
I would like to ask Senator Routier to answer this please. Senator P.F. Routier (Assistant Chief Minister - rapporteur):
The Environment in Figures report is an important document looking back at trends in our environment. As the report says, we enjoy a high quality environment but we need to do more. This is partly why the Strategic Plan commits to developing a long-term vision to balance our environment, our community and our economy. Indeed, the My Jersey survey, which we ran just before the summer recess, placed the environment at the top of people's priorities. People reported how pleased they are with the condition of our environment. 4,000 people responded to the survey and the Council of Ministers will be considering its results next week, alongside the Environment in Figures report. This will help inform the final vision which will include specific and achievable goals, including for our environment.
- The Connétable of St. Helier :
The forward to the report written by the Minister for Environment says: "It is a matter of concern that this report is not more positive." Will the Assistant Chief Minister undertake to come back to the Assembly with specific actions which will make sure that the report that is given next time is much more positive than "could do better" which seems to be the tone of the present report?
Senator P.F. Routier:
I certainly share the Minister for Environment's concerns about where we can do better and certainly I am very pleased that next week the Council of Ministers will be spending some considerable time looking at that report, together with the findings of the My Jersey survey and we will... no doubt the Minister for Environment will be pressing us, as a Council of Ministers, to ensure that actions are taken.
- The Connétable of St. Helier :
When the Strategic Plan was first presented in draft form to the States the Environment, Housing and Technical Services Scrutiny Panel, as it was then termed, spent a considerable amount of time working up a series of amendments, which were successfully brought to the Strategic Plan. I would simply ask the Assistant Chief Minister: was the Scrutiny Panel wasting its time or is the fact that the environment was put up the priority list, particularly in the areas of economy, health and education, a matter that the Council of Ministers is going to take very seriously indeed?
Senator P.F. Routier:
Certainly from my point of view, and I know from many of the colleagues, in fact I am sure across all the Council of Ministers, we are all very keen to put into action the words which are in various reports; the Strategic Plan, the Environment in Figures and also the Scrutiny Report, and all those documents will be of value to ensure that we will be working to a better outcome and resources being put to the environment.