The Chair of the Guernsey Development Agency has resigned after three years in the role.
Peter Watson said he was “immensely proud” of the work his “small but powerful team” had done to “deliver change, enhance our coastline, invigorate the economy and give young people hope for housing”.
However, he will step down from the GDA this August.
Going forward, Mr Watson said he hoped the GDA would be “given the necessary support” to show Guernsey could be “forward thinking”.
Media reports elsewhere suggest that Mr Watson sent a highly-critical letter to Policy and Resources covering his frustrations with how the GDA was set up and its relationship with the States.
P&R President and Chair of the GDA Political Oversight Group, Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, told Express she shared “the frustrations of the GDA”.
“The lack of a strategic decision over our future harbour requirements has really tied the GDA’s hands behind its back,” she said.
However, she said P&R had been “relentless in dragging this issue off the back burner where it had sadly been languishing and giving it the focus it deserves”.
Deputy de Sausmarez said it was “immensely frustrating that more progress on the Future Harbours work has not been made in the last four years”, but the relevant committees were “hard at work this term to move it forward”.
Tenacity and passion
Peter Watson joined the organisation in 2023, after several decades in business, including as founder of Vets4Pets and First Contact Health.
A GDA spokesperson said Mr Watson had overseen the development of “tangible plans for enhancements in St Sampson’s that promise economic revitalisation and vital housing whilst improving the area for the local community and visitors.”
James Ede Golightly, Non-Executive Director, said Mr Watson’s “tenacity and passion to enhance our island” had been pivotal to GDA’s success.
“We wish Peter all the best and thank him for his dedicated service,” he added.
The GDA will be aiming to appoint a new Chair before Mr Watson’s term finishes at the end of August.
The organisation was set up by the States in 2023 to help deliver development and improvements in key areas of the island’s east coast, particularly in St Peter Port and St Sampson’s.
It aims, “where possible”, to use private funding rather than taxpayers’ money.
Good progress
Deputy de Sausmarez said: “Environment and Infrastructure is making good progress on flood defences in the area and on the island’s fuel importation and storage strategy, and (with the States’ Trading Supervisory Board) they are also progressing the case for additional electricity interconnection – all factors affecting what can be developed where by the GDA.
“The political oversight group wrote to the GDA last week to update them and invite them for a discussion, recognising these constraints.
“That meeting has now been arranged [and] they have done a lot of valuable work, which has really underscored these interdependencies, and we are keen to find the most effective next steps.”