Environment minister Peter Sirett, flanked by deputy minister Jenny Tasker and chief officer Steve Smith, faced questions from the Scrutiny Committee yesterday over progress on recommendations in an independent review. The public were allowed in. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0927825)

TWO years after a report recommended planning meetings be opened to the public, the Environment Department has started an investigation.

It was one of a raft of recommendations in an independent review of the department.

The Scrutiny Committee met Environment yesterday in a meeting open to public observation to assess how well the Shepley Report’s recommendations had been implemented.

Committee member Mike Hadley asked why the recommendation to allow the public into meetings had not yet been implemented.

Environment minister Peter Sirett said the department had started to look at how it would hold open hearings and the board is visiting Jersey in two weeks to sit in on such a meeting. It will also visit local authorities in the UK.

Deputy Sirett defended the amount of time it has taken to look at the issue and said implementing other recommendations from the report, as well as the new planning law, had to take priority.

He also said that it would take time to work out how to structure open meetings rather than just throwing the doors open to the public.

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