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The States major long-term planning document for the island has been criticised by some of the islanders who contributed to it for "stating the obvious."
Future Jersey was drafted following a public consultation process which took place in June and July 2016, and received 4,150 responses with over 8,000 comments describing people's aspirations for the island.
Drawing from people's responses to 'My Jersey', Future Jersey set out 10 community, environmental and economic outcomes for the Island. Those included feeling safe and protected at home, enjoying long, healthy and active lives, in a vibrant and inclusive community or being able to afford a decent standard of living.
The States said there was plenty of interest in the discussion document and the information on the website, with 4,708 visits during the consultation period. Nearly 400 feedback submissions were received in addition to discussions with stakeholders and focus groups about the proposed long-term ambitions.
While overall, feedback received as part of the consultation on the strategy showed that Islanders were supportive of the idea of a long-term vision, a number of comments also raised questions about the vision, its purpose and how it will work, which the States attempted to answer in a report published on Tuesday.
Some islanders argued that the outcomes and ambitions outlined in Future Jersey stated the obvious. The States explained that it was because "most communities share similar ambitions, such as safety and security, good jobs, a healthy environment and affordable homes." They added: "However, no two places are the same when it comes to progress; some will be safer, others will be healthier. What makes each place different is its particular environmental, economic and social circumstances, how it responds to these needs and the impact of its efforts to create change."
Pictured: Jersey’s first long-term community vision should be published in March 2018.
Other Islanders also criticised the long-term strategy for setting future ambitions without describing how they would be achieved, or the trade-offs that might be required. The States' responded that the strategy "deliberately' focused on "the broad, quality-of-life end-results that we, as a community, hope to achieve, and how to measure progress towards them." They explained that the vision will be used as a "focal point" to ensure individual delivery strategies are not disjoined from each other and adhere to the vision itself.
They added: "The detail of ‘how’ progress will be achieved belongs in a range of social, environmental and economic strategies, which will be developed by government and partner agencies in consultation with the community."
Another key theme raised during the consultation was that Future Jersey did not set priorities, benchmarks or targets. The States explained that the long-term vision recognised that each of the ten social, economic and environmental outcomes "makes a vital contribution to quality of life in Jersey" and that priorities have a very important place in the island's strategic planning process. But those priorities will change according to "...different political perspectives, public opinion and changing circumstances."
The States explained that priority-setting is done as part of medium-term plans as it informs resource allocation and the scope of individual delivery strategies. However, the long-term vision’s function is "...to guide strategy development; to support and inform priority-setting by providing consistent, relevant and reliable information on what is being achieved and what needs attention."
As part of their feedback, islanders also highlighted issues with the language used to explain the three options for the long-term ambitions, which some found confusing. The States said: "If the long-term vision is to be successful, it must be as clear as possible and, therefore, the Future Jersey consultation results have led to a decision to revise the description of the options."
Feedback given during the consultation is now being taken into consideration as the final touches are made to Jersey’s first long-term community vision which the States aim to publish in March 2018.
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