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Bridging Island Plan review - submission
I think the decision to adopt a bridging Island Plan instead of rushing a fully fledged island plan is a good decision. The Island Plan is an incredibly important policy document and due to the pandemic it does not make sense to rush it, ending up with a half-baked policy that lasts for 10 years but deals with a situation that is hopefully only temporary.
The content of the bridging island plan must focus on tackling the three biggest challenges facing Jersey: the climate emergency, the housing crisis, and the new hospital.
Climate Emergency: Jersey needs to create its plan to implement the target set out by the States Assembly for Jersey to be carbon neutral by 2030. This should be achieved as much as possible without the use of offsetting, focusing instead on renewable energy (Jersey should invest in the world's premier tidal power system). Jersey is a first world country and there is no reason Jersey cannot be a world leader in tackling climate change, even if only on the small-scale impact that the Island can have.
Housing Crisis: It has been said Jersey is in need of 7000 new homes by 2030. The priority should be ensuring every Islander has a place to live (not just Jersey-born people but everyone who calls Jersey home). Every parish needs to contribute, and development should be focused in villages to ensure the availability of public transport. In order to protect Jersey's natural environment however, development should not be permitted in the National Park or in any of Jersey's "country parks" (e.g. Waterworks Valley).
A formula should be created to calculate the rough amount of homes that need to be constructed in each parish to meet a set target in line with the requirement of 7000 by 2030 (e.g. 3500 by 2035). Development should be favoured in those parishes which have the infrastructure to spare. For example, if a parish school is undersubscribed then development could be considered in that parish. Development of these new homes should reflect and complement the character of the area in which it is located.
Infrastructure needs to be developed as part of this plan to handle a large increase in homes such as this. This may involve new parish facilities (such as a new park as has been built in St Martin), and increased catchment school space. Now that all the secondary schools have been upgraded the States should focus on refurbishment of the Primary Schools (Bel Royal, Plat Douet, Samares, Springfield, Rouge Bullion are all especially in need of redevelopment). This redevelopment should ensure to provision of adequate sporting facilities to promote fitness as well.
The island's roads infrastructure also needs to be improved to handle new development. Any new housing developments on main roads should ensure the construction of pavements along those roads. Pedestrian safety needs to be improved by ensuring there are safe crossing points to access facilities in the village. St John, Trinity , Sion & Maufant all have a distinctive lack of pedestrian crossings. There is also no footpath on really any the A10. Main roads should be widened where possible to provide cycle lanes on both sides. An increase in population using main roads will lead to an increase in cars and cyclists. Providing the cycle lanes will ensure that people are not discouraged from cycling on busier roads due to volumes of cars, and also ensure that cars do not attempt risky overtaking manoeuvres since the cycle lanes will give plenty of room to overtake.
If there is to be any development in the West of the island, La Route de la Haule and the Beaumont junction seriously need to be improved. It could be an idea to provide a relief road from La Haule straight to the Avenue (effectively extending the Avenue to Beaumont. This would mean buses aren't slowed down (traffic could be restricted on La Route de la Haule in response to allow a faster route for buses) and would unlock plenty of area for development without compromising the road system. It could also allow for a segregated dutch style cycle lane at this point to promote cycling. The new hospital: There are obviously many opinions on this topic. I think the Island Plan needs to ensure construction of this project is underway by the end of 2021.