Deputy Mark Helyar is leading calls for the States to look at the future of Les Vardes Quarry and Black Rock as two separate plans.
He is concerned about the multi-million pound cost attached to using Les Vardes Quarry for water storage, and doesn’t want that issue tied to one of land reclamation, which is proposed for Black Rock.
He has also said it is very late in this term of office for the current States to be making decisions based on plans that he has described as being drawn on the ‘back of a fag packet’.
The Committee for the Environment and Infrastructure has said the two schemes need to run together as part of a long term infrastructure plan.
It wants to increase the island’s water storage capacity and it needs to find a solution for the future of inert waste, which currently has no where to go in the long term.
E&I says plans to fill Les Vardes Quarry with water are already progressing, and that Black Rock should be used for inert waste disposal.
Deputies will be asked to vote on both issues, presented as a single proposition, during next week’s States meeting – but Deputy Helyar, supported by Deputy Bob Murray will ask for them to be treated as separate propositions rather than one.
He says that the “two issues are not linked or in any way co-dependent”.
To date, the future of Les Vardes Quarry as a site for water storage has been agreed, albeit with some political and community opposition.
Deputy Mark Helyar said he supports the use of Black Rock as a dumping ground for inert waste, but he can’t be convinced of the need for additional water storage on the scale proposed at Les Vardes.
“The proposals are currently drafted as a single proposition, carrying the risk that those (like me) who favour one proposal but not the other can vote on them individually,” he told Express.
When questioned on the use of Les Vardes Quarry for water storage, Deputy Helyar said that work will cost the island and bill payers a lot of money.
He is also concerned at the late stage in this term of office that such a proposal has been lodged for debate.
“We shouldn’t be making knee jerk decisions to spend tens of millions we don’t have based on ‘back of a fag packet’ policy letters brought in the dying hours of this assembly,” he said.
“States members voting for these propositions are simply voting for even higher taxes or much more expensive water bills.
“Guernsey Water have estimated the cost to plumb in Les Vardes as £20m and the policy letter contains no estimate for the purchase price, which would likely be another £12m based on discussions which the last P&R had with Ronez. That would have to be funded by more tax (and we dont have enough income to pay our bills at the moment) or peoples’ water bills. No estimates have even been done as to how much more people would have to pay. We should at least do that before making a decision.”
E&I has said that “detailed options analysis” has been carried out, with both sets of proposals based on technical assessments which considered costs, environmental impacts, engineering assessments, and timelines.
The committee has said both work streams must progress, and are tied together.
A range of other options were considered as part of the detailed technical assessments, which included a number of former quarries, alternative land reclamation projects, and a desalination plant.
Deputy Helyar still does not agree that using Les Vardes for water storage is the right way forward.
“No adequate case has been made as to why we need more storage, we already have more than twice as much water as Jersey per head and several times more than the UK,” he said.
“The main problem I believe is the lack of capacity to collect what falls from the sky. The case is also based around misrepresentative figures in relation to water consumption – they have taken a short term analysis of growth only over the past few years. The reality is we already use a significant amount less water than we did in the 1970’s and devices are becoming more, not less water efficient all the time. “
The debate is scheduled to be held next week, with a decision due before Friday during what will be the last States meeting for the current government ahead of the election in June.