MY BACKGROUND
I was born into a St Martin family of many Jersey-born generations but first moved to St Ouen since I was 16. Educated at St Martin’s Elementary School and De La Salle College, I worked on the family tenanted farm before going on to work with a master builder at Le Garsmeurs.
In 1974, I started my first business when I bought a tractor for £50, a potato digger for £150 - and hired a marquee as a packing shed, which the then Chef de Police of St Ouen allowed me to erect on his field near the Milano Bars – as long as I lifted his potatoes at cost! The rest is history. The following year I expanded the business to three packing stations and bought several crops standing. I also took over the agricultural business of the CGA along the Esplanade where I had an office and packing store. I bought my first house in Queen’s Road, lived in the garage and let out the rooms.
In 1977 CGA sold their property on the Esplanade so I had to move. With a friend, I took over his father’s farm at La Poucquelaye but three years later the owner had it passed for development. Without a base and no security of tenure, I decided to change direction and went to work at La Collette power station. I found the working conditions very unpleasant.
My diary entry of 4th June 1980 records: ‘the temperature in the working area around the turbines was 134 ยบ F.’ To better the working conditions I became the shop steward and stayed around for ten long years. As I mostly worked night shifts, I spent the days working on my property which meant next to no social life but it enabled me to save enough to buy another house and another and another - in the end I owned 15 properties including L'Etacquerel Beach Hotel in St Ouen. Today the site is occupied by my family home.
I have never had a States loan or benefitted from an inheritance. I am proud to say that by sheer hard work, single-mindedness, reinvestment of profits and commitment, I have progressed very nicely from a £1 a week farm boy to a successful businessman.
In 2001, I demolished L’Etacquerel and built two houses and four flats on the site. Four years later I sold my town properties. Since then I have bankrolled a factory in Malaysia and an engineering facility in Germany, though I no longer have an interest in these enterprises and only retain the house and four adjacent flats at L’Etacq. I know the value of hard work and the dignity of earning your own money – and, moreover, I have traditional family values and a respect for fundamental Christian principals.
I am very lucky to be married to Sue. We have three children, Samuel (26) a stonemason, Peter (22) who this autumn starts a degree course at Southampton University before hopefully going to Sandhurst Military Academy, and our 21-year-old daughter, Adele, a talented equestrian who breeds and trains horses in the north of England. We also have a delightful two–year-old granddaughter called Charmaine.
ENVIRONMENT
Being a country boy born and bred I am passionate about the Island’s environment and believe that it should be protected for future generations. In recent years I have been extremely fortunate to have travelled the globe but I have yet to find a finer shoreline than St Ouen’s; it must be protected.
St Ouen is, without question, the most beautiful and unspoiled parish in the Island and should remain as such. Nonetheless, I am realistic enough to acknowledge that new homes are needed – such as the parish’s successful village schemes, but these can be created sensitively adjacent to already built-up areas whilst respecting our countryside.
Jersey’s farmers are the guardians of our countryside and farming is an essential part of St Ouen's culture and heritage. Now, with less chemicals being used on the land, the grower's job has been made even more difficult, however, with their usual fortitude they are adapting and maintaining the wildlife habitats. The farmers must be respected.
HEALTH
I was taught that a healthy body means a healthy mind. Jersey must be prepared to invest some serious money on health facilities during the next decade. We will almost certainly need a new General Hospital. It would be sensible and cost-effective to have all the health facilities on one site including the Ambulance Service. Some valuable sites will be freed up in the process and I hope that the planners will use them to Islanders advantage. Recent events have revealed that some of the management staff needs a good shakeup – but that applies to all departments!
EDUCATION
We must invest in education as it's ALL our future. I welcome the protection of schools subsidies and transparency to let the taxpayer know what he and she are paying for in non-fee paying schools. We want to see the exam results performance published annually so parents can make an informed decision. Children should be taught how to achieve - not how to claim, a culture of dependency has been created. We need to encourage more apprenticeships with academic and vocational students separated before the age of 14. Individual talents should be encouraged at the earliest of ages. Times have now changed but people must realise that the ‘artisans’ are as important - if not more so than the academics - and should be rewarded accordingly.
‘On the job’ training should be encouraged, be it for a lawyer or a carpenter. It will not only save the student three years of their life but it will keep them out of debt and will save a fortune in subsidising fees and other associated cost connected with sometimes worthless courses at university.
MINISTERS and SCRUTINY PANELS
Having sat in on Scrutiny hearings I have found several faults; the main one being that Ministers have too much power – yet they too often fail to take on board the recommendations of the panels. It is wrong that they do not have to. At present, Scrutiny has no teeth and is not taken seriously by the Executive. The money wasted to set up these panels is disgraceful when Ministers and civil servants close their ears or pass the buck. The old system of presidents and committees was far more democratic and we need a return to this system - or give Scrutiny some power and prestige. Some of the ministeries are too large for example Education Sport Leisure and Culture. Sport Leisure and Culture should go with Tourism. It is more related and could help revive the Tourism dead duck
INCOME SUPPORT
In its present form it will eventually bankrupt the Island. The administration should be returned to the Parishes where it will be known who those in real need are. The money should come from central funding but be paid to each parish upon monthly receipt of full details of the claimants and how much of the taxpayers’ money they were given. We have a terribly unfair anomaly when a single parent with two children can claim £29,500 per year, yet a couple with two children - with one partner working - would have to earn £34,500 after paying tax and social security to earn the same. We are giving away the incentive to work.
IMMIGRATION
For more than a millennium Normans, Bretons, Italians, Portuguese, Polish, the Irish and of course the British have come to Jersey to form this wonderful melting pot of culture and society that we have today. Whether they came here to escape famines, persecutions or economic upheavals they came here to work not to claim. At times like these with 1,400 unemployed, a computerised revolution and a non-functioning ministerial government we should not be encouraging an increased population. The Island's resources and reserves are already stretched to capacity. It is obvious that we need a time of immigration control. We need to reserve the jobs of the craftsmen for local residents. This will also help to return the incentive for the young to train and enter these skills. If flats are left empty all well and good, it will bring down the prices on starter homes for young people.
PROPERTY SERVICES
As an island we have left far too much publically-owned property vacant for years with no investment or return. Look at the JGC site or Fort Regent. Why are these investments not seeing a return for the Island?
NEW PARKS
We already have enough beautiful yet under-used parks without wasting another £10,000,000. The Millennium Park should have been a world-class model of social housing with three floors of underground parking beneath let out to commuters. The development costs would have been recouped in a few short years and the returns would have been perpetual to maintain a proud development. There is a lack of forward planning. If elected I will oppose such ill thought ideas.
CARE of the ELDERLY
We should and can learn from the elderly. They are the ones who taught us what we should be teaching the young. It is essential that we respect the elders in society and ensure that they remain cared for in their own homes for as long as possible. When they do go into care they should not have to lose their dignity and their home. This is a priority for me.
SPORT AND LEISURE
Jersey is a natural mecca for sports and leisure. As an island we are top notch and must keep it that way. A healthy body is a healthy mind. An investment in sport will save an account in health.
GST
The blanket tax that can be increased at the push of a button fails to be selective. The most vulnerable in our community are being taxed for their essentials. I can see it being raised to 15% before we are much older. It's a quick fix whilst States Members continue to waste money on expensive consultant reports and mistakes caused with nobody held responsible.
STATE’S MEMBERS REMUNERATION
Nobody should be prevented from standing for the State’s Assembly due to lack of funds however I do not believe that they should earn more than the annual average of their previous 3 years income adjusted annually with inflation. If successfully elected to subsequent terms they should then receive the full members pay.
If elected I shall claim the States members renumeration however after the tax due and incurred expenses the balance will be put into a charitable fund for the benefit of all age groups in the parish. Each October an account of this fund will be posted, with the kind permission of the Connetable, on the Parish notice board. Now that my family has grown up, and I am free from business commitments, I would like to become usefully involved with the parish which, regardless of whatever commitments I may be asked to fulfill in the States if elected, will remain my priority.
