This Is Guernsey

ATTEMPTS by the Treasury Department and the Crown Officers to close a local kiosk unless its owners of 17 years conform to bureaucratic convention took a disturbing turn yesterday.
The heavy-handed threat to bulldoze the Pembroke slipway business follows complaints by rival kiosk owners and one in particular.
Islanders will have some sympathy with the concerns. Concessions from the States require kiosks to provide a minimum service so any one that does not could be accused of posing unfair competition.
But the point that appears to be missed by Treasury is that this is a one-off situation involving a business that has been there for 17 years and has never been regulated by the States.
So because it does not conform to the Frossard House norm and because the owners do not want to sign a lease not in their best interests, taxpayers’ money has to be used to threaten, harass and, ultimately, tear down a beachside business the de Carteret family bought in good faith.
Treasury and its St James’ Chambers enforcers might have the law on their side but no one else thinks it is the right way to behave.
‘Sign or else we’ll destroy you,’ is no way for government to go about things and it is utterly wrong for the States and the Crown Officers to be policing a trade war between kiosks.
Rival operators might be waiting to use this as a test case for them also to change opening hours to suit them better but that, too, misses the point.
The de Carterets’ kiosk has never been subject to a service level agreement and instead of adopting a David and Goliath approach that offends islanders’ sense of fair play, Treasury needs to look at negotiating a peace deal that suits everyone.
A starting point might be brokering lifetime enjoyment of the property to ensure the anomaly is not perpetuated and cannot be sold on, combined with a period of grace in which to agree a lease and service levels for opening hours.
There are other ways around it but the important thing is to find a Guernsey solution to a problem that appears to have brought out the bully boy in officialdom.

Article posted on 8th August, 2008 - 2.30pm