MANAGEMENT of housing licences is ‘no way to run an island’, says the man charged with developing the finance sector. Peter Niven, chief executive of GuernseyFinance and also employed by the States as director of finance sector development, urged more joined-up thinking for the benefit of business.
‘If we have joined up thinking, working with departments and industry, I think we’d all benefit an awful lot. If we don’t do that, we are going to have more serious problems over the coming months,’ he said in a controversial speech at an Institute of Directors lunch yesterday.
‘This is no way to run an island. We have got to get all the various parties together and come to some consensus. But I think it’s in the ﾓtoo difficultﾔ box, particularly now in the run-up to an election.’
He has urged the States to work with industry on the issue.
He described the licences system as ‘a drain on business’ and proposed a more pragmatic approach to matching economic needs to those of the sector.
Mr Niven described last month’s States decision not to allow overt population growth as ‘at best strange, at the worst bizarre’.
He said that industry was reacting ‘with dismay’ over the decision to reject a proposal to allow nett immigration of 200 people a year. It would perpetuate the frustrations felt by employers churning over staff on housing licences.
Mr Niven said that the licence system was a blunt instrument for addressing the population issue.
‘There is this feeling that after five or seven years we’re just throwing away a massive resource we have had on the island, adding value in business and the community, and just throwing it away and starting all over again, throwing more cost at it.’
Mr Niven said that Jersey had relaxed its rules for ‘J-Cat’ residents and allowed them to stay, which had boosted commerce in the island. A similar move in Guernsey would not flood the island with workers, he said.
‘Even if we let the door open, you’re not going to go out and suddenly bring in hundreds of people.
‘You would bring in some key people, adding value and being paid quite well, but there isn’t going to be this huge influx of people suddenly. We manage our businesses within the resources we can afford and we need.’
Mr Niven’s speech also highlighted the finance industry’s tremendous year-on-year growth.
Commerce and Employment supported the 200-a-year increase in the States, but has not reacted with despair to the States vote.
Minister Stuart Falla has said that effectively the decision meant that the current system of issuing licences would continue and the number would remain similar.
Article posted on 19th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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