I do believe, you were either not around or maybe too young to understand how we were left in a mess, when last we borrowed.

The way the banks were to us makes scrooge look like an angel. memories run deep.

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Of course if I owned the land I would have a meeting with the businesses - just like this guy did - if they refuse to play ball then why should a land owner sit back & watch them make money out of people that park on their land for free?!

I personally would not go down the route of abandoning cars there due to environmental & safety issues - I would however find a way to stop people parking on my land.

I would say that the owners of Checkers, Cobo Village Stores & Cobo Chip Shop have had it very good over the years - its not the land owners fault they have no parking outside them!

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Well done guys - you’ve cracked the whole problem between you.

Everything is down to ‘underbudgets’ [what a great expression Bob - you should be a consultant] and so overspends have never happened.

In the remarkable event that they did happen, as Darren thinks, then they were on projects which were all the fault of the Board of Admin. Although as Darren points out, there is always the option of getting more money to cover Bob’s underbudgets by renaming the work.

Be careful to choose a new name which is on the BoA’s books mind you.

So, it’s never happened but if it has then it’s not the fault of anyone still walking the corridors of power. So what are we all going on about then?

Simples.

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i am completely against external borrowing, or any kind of borrowing. for one main reason that all money is debt, even the money we all think we own, all has to be repaid to a bank at some point, with interest. that interest in ‘legal tender’ does not yet even exist. even if every single pound, dollar, euro, whatever currency was paid back in full to each bank, we would still have a massive amount of debt to pay, which the only way to pay it would be to take out yet another loan to create more money just to pay the debt from the original loan.

these kind of problems will never cease to exist untill the way that money is created, along with inflation, taxes and any other money we need to pay out is really looked at by the every human. everything just needs to stop, because we do not need it.

these capital projects are ones we simply do not need, the only thing they will benifit are the poeple who dont have regular jobs, and they can just sit back watching themselves be more and more in power (or rich, money=power) with somehow everybody else(the taxpayers)being their slaves to pay debt.

its about time people started waking up to the way we treat each other, along with such competitive lifestyles where being the ‘best’ matters something. when really it doesnt.

but we all seem far to comfortable to do anything about it, and seem to enjoy our lifestyles far to much.

unfortunatley we just cant do anything.

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Whatever John Humphreys had in mind in 1948 is getting seriously screwed up now that the lunatics are paid consultants to the folks who haven’t a clue what goes on outside the asylum they’re supposed to be in charge of.

WHB - staggering admission. You’d have cars abandoned if you owned the land and you reckon most people would? Wouldn’t the better way be to speak to the users of your land and agree terms for continued use. Your option wouldn’t provide you with much rent.

And I don’t think that the local businesses are making money on every car parked there. A number of them appear not to be awaiting the return of their drivers with bags of heavy shopping.

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also i am not some teenager just having a rant!!
i wanted to know what people thought and so that i could get in contact with the environement department!!

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My main contention is that I have seen nothing from the constables detailing what exactly is wrong with their building and why a new one is the best option. I have looked on their website…not a mention. It seems to me that we were suddenly told “lets have a new building oh and its going to cost £2.5m and as a ratepayer you can fund it”.

i think that the constables should have set out what the issues were with the current building, and then set out the options that are available. They should then have sent a copy of that to every one in St Peter Port or published it in the Press..

It may be that St Peter Port could do with a community building like the one build in St Martin’s, which is multifunctional.

What is needed is open discussion, and thats what was missing and thats what got everyone angry.

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I popped into the constables office to see the ‘18th century conditions’ you described. Nobody was using quill pens and parchments. Most disappointing!

In fact, all they seemed to be doing was making do with an office space in an old building like many of us in the private sector have to…

Let’s keep it real here. We are in a serious recession, people are losing their jobs (yes, even in Guernsey) and there are concerns about how the island as a whole is going to make ends meet. Against that backdrop it is entirely understandable that spending several million pounds on a new Constables office is not high up on most people’s priority lists.

What is not so easy to understand is how people in public service can be so out of touch with the current economic climate and their parishioner’s feelings that they thought this was a good idea?

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I have to take umbridge with your post dear man.

What on earth do you think the politicians, sorry, Town Council, will do if they use common sense and do the sensible thing?

My word - they won’t be able to procrastinate ad-infinitum and then change the name of their Departments to something else following an expensive review that tells them they are hopeless. Then after the review they will still be hopeless, but blame the hopelessness on the previous Department they used to manage however that was not their fault.

No no, being sensible just wouldn’t cut the mustard.

I would be interested to know the average size of a town council administrative board compared to the bunch of clowns that run this place.

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Firstly, I dont agree with this particular monument, because I feel the money could be better/ more wisely spent at delancy.

However…

I think you already know the answer to your question.

Do you propose that we just abandon all thought of people who have done great things to make this world a better place to live in?

Maybe we should stop teaching history at school, who cares what happened in 1939-1945 eh?? And all those good men/ women across history that died in favour of just causes.

Maybe while we are at it, we should get rid of all the graveyards too.

If children are taught about heroes, then maybe they will grow up to be a better person.

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If you want to lay blame, then have a go at the surrounding businesses… They are refusing to pay rent, yet expect their patrons to be allowed to park on private land for free so they can make money!!

If you owned a field & someone put a supermarket next to it - would you be expected to give up your field so people can park there for free? The supermarket is laughing as they make money on every car parked there - you however get nothing…

If I was the land owner I would do exactly the same & in fairness I think most people would…

So - if you want to lay blame - blame the surrounding businesses or the States…

Why the States? Cos they are useless & ruining the island & they are at fault for most things so 1 more wouldnt hurt!!

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Contingencies are not generally planned for with States Programmes or Projects, as the States planners expect to come in on budget.

As has been posted elsewhere what happens is that there is a ‘re-phase’ of the project status, i.e. phase 2, alterations, which means they apply for more money under a different title and therefore never go over.

Ask good old Dave Jones how much we went over on the airport and the jetty - also ask him who the contractors were……

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Somewhere along the line Human Rights and Data Protection have been conjoined. An example might be, if you can be bothered to read it is, the following PDF

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200708/jtselect/jtrights/72/72.pdf

I’m unsure that the John Humphreys started the drafting of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights had in mind the protection of fly tippers in my garden.

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You dont want cigarettes sold in shops, then make them illegal.

To defer the issue on to the shopkeeper is predictable government spin which deflects attention away from the tax/ cigarettes issue, which is the real reason that they are still sold.

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