Petty laws are signs of small States
Monday 16th August 2010, 2:30PM BST.
THE law, as States departments are quickly learning, cuts both ways.
Heavy-handed demands by the Environment Department that A-boards advertising businesses must be removed got everyone scanning for similar signs outside States buildings.
Sure enough, there were no fewer than six outside the Tourist Information Centre.
The response was predictable and indicative of the ‘us and them’ mentality of bureaucrats everywhere.
‘Oh, but that law’s not meant for us, it’s for ordinary people. We’re special…’
Not so.
On a similar line, the airport authorities have been caught out by rules preventing businesses operating from States land.
The same rules that prevented a hedge veg stall operating from the coast wall have been used to force the States to cast adrift its boat park at the airport.
Many islanders will feel a sense of justice in all this. In a small island it is all too easy for petty laws to proliferate and suffocate. Civil servants and politicians who feel exempt from needless rules are all too ready to invent and implement them for others.
So problems such as a few unruly teenagers cycling dangerously at Saumarez Park are not dealt with by way of a strong word in the offenders’ ears. Instead, a blanket ban is placed on all but the youngest children cycling.
So the many are punished for the crimes of a few. A 10-year-old can no longer take his birthday present for a spin around one of the few safe spaces to cycle in the island, nor can proud parents join their youngsters for a gentle Sunday afternoon pedal past the duck pond.
It’s a nonsense, as anyone who has cycled the parks of any town in the UK will testify.
Getting along in our congested island means compromise and common sense, not small-minded pettifoggery.
Surely it is better for a restless teen to seek entertainment through a bike ride than look for it at the bottom of a bottle of alcopop.
States departments need to focus on the bigger picture.
Island Life
All about Guernsey
Ambassador of the Year 2011
History & Heritage
Visitor Information
Guernsey's government
Campaigns
Voice For Victims
Voice for Victims is a campaign aimed at promoting the rights of those affected by child sexual abuse.
This is Guernsey
Guernsey Press
Useful Links
The States reaction is an ill considered piece of knee jerkery. The problem is caused by a few people misbehaving. The correct response is to target those misbehaving. The majority who wish to cycle around the place in a sensible manner should be left alone. An argument that this suggestion could not be enforced cannot be accepted. If a law is made that a defined group (ten and over in age) are prohibited from cycling then there must be some enforcement mechanism else there is no point in making the law. It merely requires the enforcement mechanism to be correctly targeted.
Report abuse
Mike Snelling has this issue right on the money. It is an absolute disgrace that many innocently behaving Island youngsters should be prohibited from enjoying the safety of the park. When is the petty bureaucratic idiocy going to end. I am fuming over this latest intervention on us hard working tax paying Islanders being able to enjoy a quality of life we not only deserve but pay more for every year. Get the measures in place to manage the ‘alleged’ problem instead of getting the old sledge hammer out every time there is the slightest perceived issue.
Report abuse
Totally agree with the two gentlemen above.
Report abuse
1. the gsy press has a huge magnifying glass poised over the island looking for states action that can be held up as petty bureaucracy. because they are trawling so hard it seems that the bureaucracy is increasing when statistically it may not be. the real reason the press and its editor is trawling so hard for easy pickings is to support his mushrooming obsession with the power of our state versus the free market and taxpayer. there is debate to be had there, but not a hysterical one.
2. another reason why states’ rules seem so petty is that before a significant percentage of islanders, of all backgrounds and ages, followed the ‘ sod off – i can do what i like ‘ school of behaviour, there was no need to use said rules. the environment spokeswoman explained a few days ago on the radio very well the bikes in the park problem – the over 9s rule has been there for about 40 years but was never needed because there used to be wardens, and even when they went, riders did not used to ride dangerously in the park through the elderly and toddlers alike. but too many do now. maybe the age 9 limit is a couple of years too low but too many people do not care about what they do, so all of us feel the restrictions. it is the same on the roads (though there’s not enough state sanction there because the poorly behaved are in the majority, mr sirett?), the same with street signs, the same with burning plastic, the same with buried barbecues and broken glass on the kids’ beaches, etc etc. if we have to be locked in to more rules to keep vulnerable persons safer from idiots, then we all have to accept it … unless we collectively condemn these increasingly uncaring islanders amongst us.
Report abuse
Why has this suddenly become an issue? People have used boards such as these for hundreds of years with little or no problem, but now some jobs-worth in the Environment Dept has seen fit to be difficult….come on people, lets use a little bit of common sense.
I would also love to hear people’s opinions of the “Going Digital” signs hanging from lamp posts all around the island. These are far worse and in my opinion pose more of a health risk than any A-board. They only set a precedent for more similar signs, which make the place look more like the UK…. something which we certainly do not want if we would like to keep our tourist trade.
Also, in response to ‘blah’ above, I totally agree that rules in society are very important, but lets just be a little reasonable as opposed to producing a quasi-communist/socialist mess of a country where we expect the government to define everything about our lives.
Report abuse
Mr champion smith and Mr Snell..
Exellent post… total agree with you.
Report abuse