This Is Guernsey

By Phil Falle

FOR a place which usually lays claim to the saying that this is where time stands still, things are certainly changing in Sark. Two spring to mind when commenting about changes, for it seems that each time I walk further than a few hundred yards from my home I see new faces and changes to the appearance of buildings which seemingly have hitherto remained unaltered in the 20 years I have been coming to the island.

I was talking the other day to a couple of Sarkees – people you would expect to know not only everyone but also everything about them – and they had been working for a morning on the stretch of road between the Millennium Field and the Methodist Church.

They remarked that during the course of those few hours they had seen upwards of 20 people they did not know and this in what could then be classed as the middle of winter, so it’s unlikely they were all tourists.

Just to get this into a little bit of perspective, in Sark 20 new faces around the place overnight, so to speak, is a bit like seeing a couple of thousand in somewhere the size of Guernsey and there are those who argue – and it is difficult to disagree – that the impact on our infrastructure of a sudden influx of people will have a marked effect.

I can recall suggesting, either in this column, in conversation with someone, or both, that a carefully worded census form could help Sark considerably in planning for the future because, whether some individuals like it or not, the huge amount of economic activity planned for the foreseeable future will necessitate a little more in a government planning programme than the current system of something akin to crisis management.

I stress, yet again, that in saying that I am not criticising the hard working members of Chief Pleas and particularly some of the committee presidents who, because there is virtually no bureaucratic support for them, have to double up as civil servants in addition to being policy makers.

The problem about a census is that some people still hold the view that its only purpose is to determine the total number of people living here. The reality is that, provided the form is carefully worded and thought is given well in advance to the sort of information which Sark needs to plan its future properly, a census is the principal tool for any thinking community.

What is not needed is what I call the easy approach – something along the lines of getting hold of the most recent Guernsey census form, striking out the questions about how many cars in the household and what garaging provision is made for them (information about as useful to Sark as would be a chocolate teapot) – but a good deal of public consultation about the sort of information which would be useful.

Why those in favour of regular censuses believe such information is important can best be explained by an argument put to me by a Chief Pleas member recently.

If employers were asked their plans about increasing their workforce, it might emerge that within a year there would be 40 more people here.

The chances are that at least half will have a spouse or partner and, let’s say, the 2.4 children people say is the norm. That works out at another 48 pupils to be educated and even if it’s only half that number, then it’s at least another class and another teacher.

Like it or not, that is the sort of information Sark is going to need in the not-too-distant future.

However, that same Chief Pleas member went further and said that even without a census, steps should be taken to determine who – either living or working here or intending to – has adequate medical insurance.

To most people, medical insurance and living in Sark go hand in glove, yet I am told that a considerable number of people don’t have it. I am also told that there have been discussions – I don’t know how serious – on making it compulsory. That may be a step too far, but it is certainly important, even for daytrippers from Guernsey.

I mentioned earlier the changes in the appearance of buildings and one which will be immediately apparent to visitors is at the front of La Heche, right at the start of The Avenue.

The wall has been lowered and repointed, new flagstones are now in place in what promises to be an attractive courtyard, and the principal feature of the area – an old well – looks much improved with repaired stonework, thanks to the skill of stonemason Terry Regan and those working with him.

The email address for comment is fallesark@sark.net.