ALTHOUGH St Sampson’s douzaine is still remaining coy about why its members tried to block the Lowlands data park, what led to its change of heart and how much it has cost ratepayers in abortive legal fees and reputational damage to the parish, it is still possible to draw some conclusions about what really happened.

Why douzeniers wanted to use a 1930s piece of legislation to halt the development may never be known – and that is why the attempt collapsed.

By failing to provide Long Port with reasons for its bornement application being refused, St Sampson’s douzaine was in breach of its obligations and failed to demonstrate what the Deputy Bailiff in an earlier and unrelated case referred to as the meticulous care required.

‘If the decision-maker has misunderstood the application, or has taken account of irrelevant material, or has failed to take account of relevant material it should have taken into account, or has misunderstood or misapplied the law, or if the decision-making process is otherwise fundamentally flawed, the applicant is entitled to be told. Otherwise, he or she cannot properly exercise his or her legitimate right of appeal,’ he said.

In other words, the douzaine did not have a leg to stand on and their legal adviser subsequently told them to back down smartish.

What makes this relevant to the rest of the island, however, is what would have happened had the douzaine given its reasons.

Long Port would have appealed to the Royal Court, which would have regard for the fact that the Environment Department had released all relevant permissions and was the proper body for regulating such things, and the douzaine would have been overruled.

In other words, the requirement for a bornement – which dates back to a time when the parish acted as planning authority – has been replaced by Environment’s involvement at a much higher and professional level.

Similarly, the granting of a bornement counts for nothing if the planners withhold their consent.

So while islanders should think carefully about even bothering to apply for such a parish permit, the authorities should be moving to scrap the law altogether.