States says yes to runway work
Thursday 24th February 2011, 11:30AM GMT.
PLANS to develop Guernsey’s runway cleared another hurdle yesterday after the States agreed to compulsorily purchase a family’s field.
Members also backed closing La Mare Road – two decisions that pave the way for Public Services’s £80m. project to go ahead, although it still needs to go back to the States for detailed approval.
The decision effectively rules out the use of collapsible concrete on the safety ends, known as Emas, which would have cost an extra £7.5m. but saved the field and kept the road open.
One west deputy warned, however, that it was not the end of the argument with residents expected to launch a legal challenge if planning permission is granted.
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It won’t be plain sailing for The States, the owners of that land aren’t just going to let them get away with it.
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No surprise with the decision.
This, however, could get very messy.
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Is that a misprint in the article, or will the runway really cost 80 MILLION quid?! I may have missed something in earlier articles, but where`s the money gonna come from?!
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Just get on with it
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This is another instance where the States should be acting like a prudent housewife on hearing the clamour from her kids for the latest toy or computer game:-
“It would be nice to have it but we can’t afford it right now”, she would reply.
What really needs doing? The runway needs resurfacing. Do that and wait for the rest.
This is just like the previous big spends which the States conveniently keep reminding us, weren’t overspends as they were within budget.
Technically, that may be true. However the average Guernseyman or woman regards SHOULDN’T HAVE SPENT as “OVERSPEND” and States members always try and wriggle out of this one.
Did we need a new Court building? No. Nice to have but we couldn’t really afford it. Vanity project.
Did we need that huge airport terminal? No. Nice to have but we couldn’t really afford it. Vanity project.
This is another vanity project. It needs to be cut to the bare bones and the rest put on the back burner.
Until the Black Hole is sorted (and realistically that means charging companies and banks a tax on their profits), this island just cannot keep splashing the cash.
I’ll leave it there for the moment ;-)
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What are the government on? Do they want to use their knowledge to work out how it is possible? I know very well not every Guern is rich unlike many people who are in the govenment.
What is wrong with the runway anyway, keep it short and sweet. Is it not more important that there are positive vybes and a good community in Guernsey. People and communities will not support this if it is going to effect them to an extreme extent. As pose to the moral of this which is money money money! Money DOES NOT buy happeniness, communities and communication buys happiness. If you think the only thing that buys happiness is money, then the meaning of happiness is a lack of knowledge!
Do the right thing government and don’t just think about yourselves, but think how EVERYONE on Guernsey will be affected!
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I wonder if Big Burnie Flouquet and the gang would be as keen to spend all this money if it were coming out of their OWN pockets?
Me thinks not.
Rest assured, the only thing that will stop this madness is when the States have fleeced every man woman and child of every penny, and there is simply nothing left to spend.
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Should have gone with the EMAS proposal. saves the roads, the field and probably more lives if a plane ever over shoots!
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Scarlett – I don’t really have any strong feelings either way (not being an aviation expert) but I’m not sure that particular argument is valid.
I’m assuming “Big Burnie” and his gang are local taxpayers as well? That being the case they’ll be paying for it just as much as you will.
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A disappointing vote by the majority of the house. A pity they were so easily swayed by the scaremongering antics of PSD. The use of an outdated piece of legislation to unnecessarily “steal” ancestral land is shameful. And to all those rejoicing at this decision, remember it when something of yours is being forcibly taken from you in the name of progress.
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It’s an absolutely valid argument, Paul, so I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining it.
The States are spending money we don’t have on things that we may not actually need (certainly not in the way they’re suggesting we do) without sufficiently exploring alternatives or the actual viability of what they’re proposing FIRST…
or have you forgotten incinerator-gate, or the introduction of 0-10 despite the fact they knew it wouldn’t fly (and the possibly very negative implications of having to replace it) or the Rural Area Plan being put in place despite the fact they were aware the runway work could directly contravene what they themselves agreed…
Seems to me that seeing as far as the ends of their noses to take a quick gander at the bigger picture is not something that our States aren’t capable (or interested in?) doing.
Being for or against this insane way of thinking and the projects involved is, of course, entirely up to you. I personally will stick with the simple philosophy ‘if you can’t afford it, don’t have it’, a well known phrase that is evidentially entirely unknown to our politicians.
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I still think they; the States have all been reading “Mein Kampf”
I say that because they are acting like they did, just destroy things to make it go their way.
TIME FOR CHANGES.
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Will the States throw 80 million quid away…. money which the island does not have ??
The aircraft that use the runway at Guernsey Airport at the moment do not need anywhere near the full current length of the runway so a safety extension is absolutely not neccesary.
No airline is interested to bring in larger aircraft on a regular, frequent basis as there simply is not the passanger demand now and nor will there ever be.
To start introducing runway extensions on the pretext that it is essential for safety is totally wrong and a waste of money.
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80million to resurface the runway but no money to repair dangerous potholes, you could not make this up.
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