Save Our Shoreline, November 2010

The Victorian Promenade from Havre des Pas to La Collette. Soon to be widened at four points, have the shelter removed, and to become the 'Emergency Access Road'.

Last month we reported on rubbish piled up on the rock bund alongside the western boundary of the Channel Island's first Ramsar Wetland of International Importance. At a Ramsar Management Authority meeting last month (12th October, 2010) Save Our Shoreline had this accepted as an agenda item and we are pleased to report that Transport and Technical Services (TTS) were given four weeks to clear it up.

The same Department last week applied to Planning and Environment for permission to start work on the beach this December, in order to widen the Victorian promenade at four points - necessary for emergency service vehicles should a major incident occur at La Collette (see our September Edition). The beach is in a Ramsar Area and is ecologically sensitive. Resident and over-wintering birds rely on the area for their food source, which could well be under threat when large volumes of heated and treated cooling water are pumped into the bay. TTS still rely on a flawed Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in their planning application. The Department were heavily criticised last year in a major report by the Environmental Scrutiny Panel and independent advisers Bioscan UK for not undertaking a satisfactory Environmental Impact Assessment in respect of the incinerator project as a whole, the Island's largest capital project to date.

The 'Emergency Access Road' was passed in principle under Reserved Matters at the same time as the incinerator was approved. TTS have ticked boxes on the application to confirm that the plans were advertised to the public (see here) and that there was public consultation. ('Consultation' in 2008 was to a selected few, and rather in the form of presentations of how wonderful the incinerator would be).

The plans were not advertised in the JEP Gazette (as far as we can ascertain). We have written to Mr. Richard Glover, Acting Assistant Director Performance and Operations, and we will update you when we receive his reply. Consultation did not take place with the concessionaires who run cafes on the promenade. When we met the concessionaires in September they had still not been consulted. And, it goes without saying, the Ramsar Bureau has once again been ignored regarding their input. We also wonder why the National Trust has not been approached regarding the finer details of any Victorian features that may be altered?

Below: Four species of wading bird commonly seen in the western corner of Havre des Pas. From left: curlew, oystercatcher, little egret, redshank. In the 'corner' of Havre des Pas, directly below the incinerator, can be found a rich variety of bird and marine life.