An independent review into the ‘Factorygate’ Sandpiper Vinery affair will be held by Advisory and Finance after all. But Dave Barrett, whose Appeal Court success triggered the row, said that it would be a waste of time and money.

‘We’re talking about two years ago and there’s nobody left in government to call to account, so I can’t see the point,’ he said.

Deputy Barrett, who lives next to the Sandpiper Vinery site, said he would not be prepared to spend any money submitting anything to an inquiry that would have no statutory powers.

‘I’ve no doubt that A and F will find somebody who will agree that everything is wonderful and nobody has done anything wrong, so that’s the matter closed,’ he said.

‘If A and F wants to waste public money holding an inquiry that will be nothing more than a sham, then that’s fair enough.’

Last month the States rejected a requete led by Mary Lowe calling for a tribunal of inquiry to be set up to look into how the Island Development Committee gave permission in principle for a herb processing plant to be built there.

A and F member Deputy Roger Berry told the House that the committee would arrange for a review of the circumstances to be carried out by an independent person mutually acceptable to both it and Deputy Lowe.

But she declined the invitation saying such a review would have no legal standing and people could refuse to comply if they wished.

An A and F spokesman yesterday confirmed that the review would go ahead.

‘We are putting arrangements in hand to honour the undertaking that was given to the States on behalf of A and F,’ he said.

‘Hopefully, within the next few weeks, an announcement will be made on how that will be done.’

In a letter to the committee, Deputy Lowe said that she had said in her opening and closing speeches at the States debate that such a review would not be acceptable to her.

‘It is simply inadmissible that A and F should propose that I join it in setting up an alternative inquiry which will be without the legal framework I had proposed,’ she said.

The States debate was prompted by Deputy Barrett’s landmark case. Three UK judges unanimously overturned the IDC’s December 2002 decision that gave Osprey Developments permission in principle to build the 30,000sq ft factory.