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States Greffe: Scrutiny
Deputy Kevin Lewis Minister for Infrastructure
16th November 2018
Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel Retail in Jersey Review
Dear Minister
I write in relation to our review of Retail in Jersey. We recently held a Public Hearing with the Connétable of St Helier who told us that ideally, he would like the Parish to be given delegated responsibility for aspects of St Helier's infrastructure, particularly in urban areas. He explained that having responsibility, particularly in relation to transport, would be beneficial. I'd be grateful if you would let me know your thoughts on this?
The full transcript is available on the States Assembly website but for ease of reference, I have included a couple of excerpts as an appendix to this letter.
I would be grateful to receive your response by Friday 23rd November. Yours sincerely
Deputy Kirsten Morel
Chairman
Economic Affairs Scrutiny Panel
Appendix - Excerpts from Public Hearing on 9th November:
Connétable of St Helier
I have been in my position for nearly 17 years and despite St. Helier being part of the last Strategic Plan, an important scheme like Midvale Road was simply removed from the Minister's priority list. Other schemes, I talked about the difficulty in getting bollards removed and getting physical blocks to people moving round town changed. We are largely kept in the dark about what the departmental priorities are for the town. That is why I have come to the view that delegated responsibility to certainly this Parish for how the town works is in order, because we have a Roads Committee that is in charge of the Parish roads, which tend to be the minor ones. We meet in public. We are very accountable as a body. I think it would be absolutely right for the States to hand over responsibility for how St. Helier works in terms of transportation to the Parish, together with a budget, because obviously ratepayers are not going to take on more financial burden for the States. But if we had probably at least the same budget as the States currently spend on town, I suspect we would use it at least as efficiently as the States does, and possibly more efficiently.
The Deputy of St. Mary :
You have asked the question I was going to raise about is responsibility at the moment in the right place, i.e. for St. Helier you say not and the Government should relax it in your favour?
The Connétable of St. Helier :
I think we should have delegated powers, yes.
The Connétable of St. Helier :
It was in a list of the best 100 markets in the United Kingdom or British Isles. There is no question that it is high quality. It is a major asset to the Island. I just think we should exploit it more. I have certainly, in the past, offered to the States that the Parish would run the market. Again it is a local government function rather than a central government function but it was more or less I think the last Minister, the one before the current one, said they clearly wanted it to be wanted to keep hold of it for reasons best known to them. Again, I think that the Parish is an accountable we have democratically elected members of our Roads Committee who are quite willing to take on more of these kinds of roles if given the chance.