‘States a bully over land’
Tuesday 10th August 2010, 2:30PM BST.
(Picture by Peter Frankland)
THE States has been accused of bullying in its moves to buy land around the airport for the runway redevelopment.
Landowners either have to agree to the price on the table or else face compulsory purchase, it has been claimed.
After buying up most of the farmland to the west of the site in preparation for its two-and-a-half year, £80m. upgrade, Public Services has confirmed that one unnamed landowner was still refusing to budge.
Western deputy and former Environment minister David De Lisle said the threat of compulsory purchase was being used inappropriately.
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Rumour has it that lots of the land in question is owned by a former States member/their mother/companies associated with them. Anybody know if there is any truth in that rumour?
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David – if one was to answer your question, the moderators would not allow the post to go through – risk of libel etc
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Answer
If someone were to provide an answer to David that was the truth, where is the libel?
Or are you saying the former States member is powerful enough to silence the GP?
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Stephen
Indeed – there can be no libel if its true.
I would have thought that if the Press published a list of landowners and land transactions over the past 10-15 years re. the land surrounding the airport then it should become clear. After all, the conveyances will all be a matter of publci record so there’s nothing confidential about that.
The beneficial ownership details of any companies which own the land in question won’t of course be on public record but might beg some interesting questions….
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David/Answer/Stephen John. VERY INTERESTING DISCUSSION. Please continue.
And as for the airport expansion? It is the saddest of days for Sania Cherie.
The group of ‘suits’ currently controlling Guernsey should be voted out instantly.
I say again “I lived near a small airfield created to accomodate aircraft during WW2. I am still living there. I could not afford to move out. Against residents wishes airport expansion took place. I could not afford to move out. I now live alongside of an International Airport with flights 24 hours per day. The noise is extremely unhealthy, most times deaffening, constantly aggravating, very stressful, the pollution is suffocating and cancer causing.
Further expansion is about to take place. We tried to stop it. Our elected representatives took no notice. When we vote them out it will already be too late, the ‘expansion’ will already be complete.
With the new current expansion, international non-stop flights to all world destinations will begin. This will create much increased noise and pollution to be added to the current high volume of noise and pollution. Life will be destroyed (unless you like deaffening health-destroying noise and suffocating health-destroying pollution of course).
All of the above will happen to Guernsey eventually if expansion is not stopped.
Beautiful SMALL Sarnia Cherie DOES NOT NEED a big airport.
Unite. Find a way to stop the airport expansion NOW.
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Sadly in this whole saga nobody has looked at a better solution -that of scrapping the present airport and returning that land to farm land.
A new airport could be built to the northwest of St Peter Port on an elevated reclaimed area over a part of the bay where fishing and yachting cannot happen anyway because of the rocks. Two airstrips could be constructed so strong prevailing winds wouldn’t be as much of a problem as is presently the case. Look at Hong Kong and Tokyo for examples of exactly how this could be cost-effectively done. Under the airport platform would become a marvelous habitat for many species of fish and the new airport would be much more accessible to St Peter Port.
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James
You haven’t worked out how it would be funded. Returning the existing airport to farmland certainly won’t do the trick. That land would have to be sold off for housing in order to finance a new airport on reclaimed land.
Not sure about your geography either. By my reckoning “northwest of St Peter Port is inland, not coastal! Did you mean the northwest of the island (ie Chouet) or northeast of St Peter Port? I’m struggling to work that one put I’m afraid.
Its fair to say that if we didn’t have an airport already and were building one today, then we wouldn’t build it where it is now! I suspect Hong Kong or Japan, if in our position, would choose to turn Herm into an airport and build a tunnel or bridge to link it to Guernsey. No thank you!
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James
Your new airport in Belle Greve Bay wouldn’t get passed Environment I’m afraid
Remember their jobsworth who removed a small advertising board from the grass opposite Track Lane because it spoiled the view of Herm ?
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