TRIBUTES have been paid to former States Deputy and ex-Jersey Electricity chair Derek Maltwood, who has died at the age of 84.
In pre-ministerial government Mr Maltwood was a former president of the Harbours and Airport Committee and vice-president of Finance and Economics during an unbroken period in the States as Deputy of St Mary from 1987 to 2002.
Jersey’s first Chief Minister, Frank Walker, described Mr Maltwood as ‘a joy to work with’ and ‘a tremendous personal support’, while former Policy and Resources Committee president Pierre Horsfall said he was ‘meticulous’ and ‘conscientious’ in his attention to detail as a States Member.
In addition to chairing the States-owned Jersey Electricity company – whose board he first joined as a States appointee in 1988, standing down as chairman 20 years later – Mr Maltwood gave his time to a number of Island organisations, particularly in the cultural sphere.
He was a former chairman of the Jersey Opera House board, a trustee of Jersey Heritage and a member of the Jersey Archive’s public records panel, in addition to being appointed a councillor for the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. After retiring from the States as parish Deputy, he was a Procureur du Bien Public in St Mary.
Remembering their time together in the States, Mr Walker said: ‘I worked with Derek on a number of a different committees and many different projects, and he had a very sharp brain which always brought new positions on many different issues and propositions. He also had a keen sense of humour, which could take the sting out of many difficult debates. I was always very grateful for his support.’
Mr Walker added that he was very sorry to learn of Mr Maltwood’s passing and offered his thoughts to his family.
His recollection of the attention Mr Maltwood brought to the detail of his work as a politician was shared by Mr Horsfall, who said: ‘I served on a number of committees with Derek and everything was done meticulously and with great care.
‘He was very conscientious about his responsibilities and really made sure that he did the job properly. He was a very good committee member and always contributed strongly. He was a pleasure to work with.’
A stockbroker by profession, Mr Maltwood was also a past chairman of the Institute of Directors in Jersey.
Retaining a passion for the Island and the way in which it was run long after his service in the States came to an end, Mr Maltwood appeared in 2017 before the Corporate Services Scrutiny Panel to express his views on electoral reform. He was typically forthright, arguing for the retention of Islandwide elections for Senator, for the link between parishioners and the States provided by local Deputies representing single parishes or constituencies within them, and for the importance of training Islanders to fill senior roles in the civil service, rather than relying on imports from the UK.
Against the backdrop of proposed changes to the electoral system, he said: ‘On the Senators, people say that our system of Senators, Connétables and Deputies is complicated and difficult to understand.
‘In my view, that is absolute rubbish. We have an excellent education system and anybody reasonably educated can understand our system.’
He went on to explain what, in his opinion, made Jersey special.
‘In my view, the most important element is the parish system. It is not just the honorary police, but also the whole gamut. I do not say this just as the procureur of St Mary, but there are an awful lot of people in every parish who play their part in an honorary capacity and I believe this engenders the whole community spirit which pervades certainly all of the country parishes,’ he said.
Mr Maltwood was predeceased by his wife, Maggie, who died in February 2020.
