good points and lets be fair people are lazy enough that to park on the albert to walk upto the Bordage is a walk to far these days, I guess similar to the lazy gits who drive down to fermain to swill wine and dine on fine foods lol “joke” kind of, anyway digressing a little, I like your idea and tbh is something similar to what I would envisage helping lots of small business start up, could even look at shop share where one could open daytime the other in the early evening?

Dave Jones

thankyou for your honesty and for taking suggestions forward, I havent given up yet but i’m not getting any younger ;)

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We agree on something, hurrah!!

Although I’m not convinced that town landlords will be seeing much in the way of capital appreciation in the foreseeable future, I agree that there ought to be the option in place of charging increased rates (for example) on unlet properties that the landlord does not make a proper effort to rent out.

St Peter Port in 5 years time will be in a worse state than it is now unless something is done about all these empty properties, unfortunately Jack Honeybill’s naive optimism has turned out to be entirely misplaced, which was perfectly obvious to anyone who lives in the real world.

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Perhaps the Gabriel street developers decided not to convert to multi store retail units because they are aware that those brand new little shops at the top end of the Bordage have been left empty for over ten years,although possibly the lack of parking and footfall at that end of Town is more of a problem than high rents

I also believe that there is (or was) an active policy to encourage residential use of the units above shops in order to keep the Town alive at night

I have seen in America very popular out of town mini-malls,15 – 20 very basic two roomed units with a shop front and a storage area behind.The key to their success I believe was in no small measure due to the fact that they are usually built alongside, or surrounding in a U-shape,a 100+ free car park

There are derelict vinery sites large enough to be converted to such use,once the Fred in the shed groups have been fended off.It would probably require States funding / ownership to keep rental costs down in an effort to encourage the start-ups you mention

A downside would of course be that such a mini-mall would be yet another nail in the Town coffin

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It is not easy and the States web site is not terribly useful in giving information on start ups and is something C&E ought to improve. I have a meeting scheduled with Dep Stuart to discuss employment issues of which the self employed will figure highly in those discussions, I will add to that agenda the points you raise.

The cost of renting property is ridiculous, which is why I am looking for support under the new residents permit law to prevent people who do not live on the island or have strong connections with Guernsey from owning commercial property here.
I feel many absentee landlords just sit on this property as an investment and are wealthy enough not to worry whether it is rented or not. We should also levy some punitive rates on empty properties in order to encourage landlords to find tenants which might help bring down rents.

My advice is don’t give up, there are not many things in life that are easy but the rewards for being self employed can be very gratifying, although hard work. If you want to give me a call I will see what I can do in terms of getting the kind of help you are looking for.

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Just a quick question you keep mentioning how much support there is for starting small business in Guernsey, I looked recently at starting something in my spare time as I really cannot afford to give up work and make a living out of said venture, TBH it was tiresome and exhausting to try and eek any information out the states bodies that control business over here, plus the huge start up costs for small business which in some cases might exceed the potential profits due to low volume sales initially, properties are scarse and overpriced on the rent front which is why shops lay empty in town and the bridge, what we need instead of housing (which is honourable but lets be fair just a money maker for all those involved in that industry)is cheap affordable shop fronts which can help people to set up and grow, Gabriels is a classic example instead of luxury appartments why were they not converted into multi floor retail units, if you are serious about business start up in Guernsey then you need to start helping the little guys out ” all the flowers of tomorrow are in the seeds of yesterday”

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The important thing is where we go from here? As I have said several times I will do everything I can to help keep the island prosperous and our bussiness community interested in remaining here. The island has nothing
without the wealth they create and if we loose sight of that then we really will be in trouble. So let’s try and stay positive and we can come through this.

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I think most people would consider that the problems began in earnest in 2008, meaning that we are now in the 6th year, not the 4th.

Grippios / IWV

Sorry for pointing out another error, very pedantic of me, after all what’s a couple of years of economic turmoil between friends?

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I think most people recognise that the economic crisis that has effected most of the western world is in its 4th year.

And while the UK may not officially be in recession it is certainly not in the throws of a booming economic cycle either.

Most of the commentators are using the phrase triple dip recession to describe where the UK is at present and it is difficult not to agree with that analysis.

We have to keep a positive outlook in the island and trade on our advantages and while we are by no means immune to what is happening globally, we are at least in better shape with no debt to weather the storm.

The UK and the rest of Europe, with the exception of Germany is crippled by debts on a scale that is hard to imagine which will take decades to clear and high taxes for their people for generations to come.

We are most certainly much better off than most.

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Pointing out “facts” that have been wrongly stated is nothing to do with disagreement, it’s simply correcting what has been previously said.

I have no problem at all with anyone being positive, but when that positivity extends into naive optimism with an apparent reluctance to accept reality I fail to see what benefits it has.

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Agreed.This is drifting into PBFalla country

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Just a quick point about “this recession being in its 4th year”. The UK recession has not been continuous since it began in 2008, and indeed at the current time there is no official recession, although this could change at the end of Q1 this year.

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Thank you,

I have to be positive and when you consider this recession is in its 4th year we have done remarkably well considering.

My job as a member of the policy council is to make sure that everything that can be done to help Guernsey through this period is being done and while I fully accept that there has been shrinkage in our economy and a number of job losses, I remain confident that our core business is in reasonable shape.
I don’t have a crystal ball to predict exactly what is going to happen over the next 2-3 years, I wish I did but I do have some performance indicators to measure our present economic situation and I can say with some confidence that we are doing much better than most of Europe.

We must continue to find jobs for those unemployed and put money into training programs in order that people can have the best opportunity of learning new skills. We must also pump money into the economy through construction and investment in our infrastructure which will also help with the job market.

I am acutely aware of the huge responsibility that is ours as elected States members, the lives and well being of all islanders rest on the decisions we make and those decisions must be measured and based on fact. I take that role very seriously.

Going into panic mode during these difficult times is the last thing that our people need from their elected States and they expect us to steer this ship to calmer waters without holing it below the water line.

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