Put any building work on hold for at least 18 months

Put any building work on hold for at least 18 months

From Brendan McDonald.

IF ever there was a good reason for our States Members to abort the planned development on the Waterfront, the events of last week have given them that valid reason. Or, to be correct, two good reasons.

Firstly, the Harcourt case in the Dublin courts. Some people will say the case was settled out of court but, nevertheless, Harcourt have to fork out the forementioned sum by December.

The second reason why the States should hold back from any development is that the Harcourt spokesman, Mr Doherty, left no one in any doubt as to the state of world economics when he said: ‘Right now the market is collapsing and only a complete idiot would go ahead and develop at the moment’ (JEP, 26 November).

People may say that, of course, he was talking about the US market, but who can deny that the same thing is not happening worldwide? I hope that all States Members will take note of this dire warning from Mr Doherty’s own lips and not plunge Jersey into a hugely expensive project which we can’t afford in these uncertain times.

Our politicians must at last heed the warning and listen to the electorate and put any planned development on hold for at least 18 months and see what the situation is then. If they decide in that time that the conditions are right and we can afford it, by then there will be plenty of local people available to work on the project and there will be no need to hire outside labour.

The events of the last couple of weeks concerning Harcourt have given us the initiative and we are now calling the tune which means any developments in the future will be on our conditions.

114 Don Farm ,

St Brelade.

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