People in Sark are being asked to share their views as part of a project to understand the island’s future.
However, some locals questioned whether this was a good use of public money, given the small size of the island and several similar recent exercises.
Nearly 100 people turned up to Island Hall on Tuesday for the public launch of Future Sark, a new initiative from Chief Pleas, working with political consultancy Question Factory.
The six-month project will set out to understand what locals, businesses and other organisations think needs improving about Sark and create a “framework” for future politicians and others to use.
Conseiller John Guille, Policy and Finance (P&F) Chair, told Express Future Sark was about “listening to islanders”.
‘What could we do better?’
Conseiller Guille said: “This isn’t outsiders coming in to tell us how to run our island; it’s about getting professionals who’ve done this before to help facilitate a conversation for Sarkese.
“What do they want for the future of their island?
“What bits could we do a little bit better on, and what bits should we completely rethink?”
Jersey help welcomed
Future Sark is a “Sark-sized” version of a similar programme Jersey ran in 2017, called Future Jersey, which Conseiller Guille said their government still regularly references.
He said Jersey had “generously” offered Sark administrative support from civil servants who had been through a similar process.
The project’s total cost has been capped at £30,000, in part because of the support from Jersey.
Conseiller Guille said that while many islanders were very vocal about their views “in the street and in the pub”, the Future Sark approach was a “really fair way to get everybody’s opinion”.
“Some people are more confident speaking than others – some voices dominate,” he added.
‘Trust will come’
Question Factory’s Steve Skelton was involved in Future Jersey and is spearheading the slimmed-down Sark version.
During a tough question and answer session, he was grilled by locals about whether consultants brought value for money, given recent experiences in Guernsey and elsewhere.
Mr Skelton said he understood the scepticism, but hoped as the work started “the trust will come”, adding: “There are good builders and bad builders – it’s the same with consultants.”
‘Hard won democracy’
While it was “easy to roll your eyes and kind of give these things a pass”, Mr Skelton told Express, the process would get “stronger the more people have their say”.
There was a “duty on anybody living in a democracy to participate [in it]”, he added.
Mr Skelton continued: “Democracy is hard won and easily lost.
“I think that’s only more true in an island like Sark that governs itself.”
What is Future Sark?
Future Sark is aiming to build on the work of previous, narrower projects such as Colin Kniveton and Belinda Crowe’s work 15 years ago and, more recently, the Prince’s Foundation‘s ‘Visioning Exercise’ and the review into possible tax reforms.
Unlike these projects, though, Future Sark isn’t trying to find solutions to Sark’s problems or create a roadmap or plan for the island to follow.
Mr Skelton explained that rather than being a detailed plan for the government to follow, Future Sark was a set of “community aspirations”.