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The Prince's Foundation – set up by the now-King Charles – has carried out a 'Visioning Exercise' in Sark to explore ways of supporting the small community.
The Prince’s Foundation is a charity set up by King Charles III during his time as the Prince of Wales.
The charity works to create and develop communities through training programmes, engineering and hospitality, while realising His Majesty's views town planning and sustainable living ideals.
One of the Prince's Foundation’s most notable projects is the town of Poundbury in Dorset. It is regarded as "a model case for successful town planning and puts sustainable credentials at the heart of its architecture and design".
Pictured: Poundbury in Dorset is regarded as "a model case for successful town planning and puts sustainable credentials at the heart of its architecture and design".
The Times called Poundbury 'One of the best places to live 2023' in a feature article published on 24 March 2023.
The Foundation was invited to Sark by the Sark Property Company and will be based on the 'Community Capital Assessment and Visioning Exercise' format that the Foundation has successfully applied in other locations.
Four members of the Foundation’s staff were in Sark between Monday 24 and Wednesday 26 April.
A meeting was held in the Island Hall on 24 April, with representatives from the Foundation and around 30% of the island's population.
Pictured: A meeting with representatives of the Prince's Trust was held at Sark's Island Hall.
Residents were invited to map out their views across various activities, which focused on the natural, social, financial and built aspects of the island.
Post-it notes were placed in columns marked “positives”, “negatives”, and “opportunities” for each of these categories.
Of the discussed topics, the natural environment, community spirit, and tourist economy came out on top while infrastructure, dilapidated properties, the government, limited public provisions – like pensions and healthcare – and even “tax avoiders” were listed as problems.
There were also fears around an exodus of young people, poor education, and limited opportunities to invest and set up businesses.
Many also thought the harbours could be developed.
Pictured: Resident's mapping out their favourite, and least favourite places around Sark.
The charity will collate all the information into a report which will be published this summer, before returning to the island to start drawing up a substantivevision and plan for island in lockstep with residents.
The Chairman of Chief Pleas (Sark's Government) John Guille, and Deputy Chairman, Pippa Donovan, of Police & Finance said: “It was encouraging to see good attendance from islanders to what may be the beginning of a potentially very useful piece of work by a respected foundation.
“Overwhelming concern was expressed by islanders that this should not be linked to any commercial interests, though we have every faith that the Princes Foundation are experienced professionals and well positioned to establish this separation.
“We were all pleased to learn that this is just the beginning of the process and look forward to the preliminary report this summer when the Prince’s Foundation will be able to devote considerably more time to engage with the entire community.”
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