ENVIRONMENT minister Peter Sirett said yesterday he had no idea of the views on paid parking of the members he nominated for the board.

COMMENTS made by the Environment minister to the Guernsey Press and reported yesterday provided a revealing insight into how the States works.

GUERNSEY might have traffic problems, but islanders and Town shopkeepers do not think paid parking is the way to solve them.

STATES members won’t have the backbone to vote through a paid-parking scheme with an election on the horizon, the Environment minister has said.

WHAT is it that turns some issues into ’causes celebres’ in the States? There are two main factors. The first is that they are inherently important matters, worthy of long and spirited debate in our community and the States.

PAID parking is definitely going back to the States for debate.

PAID parking was thrown out yesterday in a vote that split the States down the middle.

ENVIRONMENT’S flat-rate parking charge is facing another challenge.

OVER the last few days, this newspaper has used what it termed the Incredulity Index to highlight some of the more extreme aspects of government policy making, the £26 car tax in lieu of a proper funding approach to paid parking being merely the latest example.

Environment minister Peter Sirett’s admission that he would be very surprised if the States accepted his board’s proposals for a £26 ‘car tax’ instead of hourly paid parking should sound the death-knell for what has become the bench-mark in daft government propositions.