The owner of Sark Electricity Limited is determined not to sell his company to Chief Pleas – saying he would be “signing Sark’s death warrant” if he were to do so.
Alan Witney-Price said if Chief Pleas try and force the compulsory purchase of the island’s power station and electricity infrastructure from him, it will “roll through the courts for years to come at enormous cost”.
His reluctance is based on his belief that the island’s government is “inept, dangerous and focused only on petty infighting rather than seeking to solve the matters that Sark needs resolved”.
Mr Witney-Price says Chief Pleas needs to start acting “like a Government and not a mob”.
Speaking after the States of Guernsey agreed to lend Sark £1.5m to buy SEL, Mr Witney-Price has said he was due to sell the company to a “residents’ focused venture for £2.4m”.
He claims that “was not good enough for Chief Pleas”, with the Sark government instead pushing ahead with plans to try and buy SEL for “the highly discounted value of £500,000”.
When Guernsey agreed to lend Sark the money to try and force the purchase through, Mr Witney-Price’s planned sale fell through.
“The States of Guernsey tied themselves to this continued assault on SEL and approved that loan by a significant margin. Despite The Policy and Resources Committee of Guernsey being advised that their proposition was inaccurate in a great many ways and presented Guernsey States members with highly questionable ‘facts’ for the debate; P&R continued with the presentation. This in the knowledge that such approval would sink the already agreed community based transaction and would result in legal action against the parties
“Sark had a community focused purchase already done. It required no funding from Sark and it required no funding from the Guernsey taxpayer. That, however, was not good enough for Chief Pleas.
“Chief Pleas insists on owning and operating SEL itself and it now seeks the compulsory purchase of SEL at the highly discounted value of £500k. Working with the States of Guernsey these two bodies are seeking to cost me personally over £1.9m.”
Giving examples of slow progress by Chief Pleas, including the lack of an island development plan, tourism plan, and economic plan, Mr Witney-Price believes that giving Sark ownership of its own electricity company would be a mistake.
“If I sold SEL to Chief Pleas I would be signing Sarks death warrant. They are inept, dangerous and focused only on petty infighting rather than seeking to solve the matters that Sark needs resolved.
“After all of the dirty tricks, lies and misinformation that has been spread there is no way that SEL will ever be sold to Chief Pleas and certainly not at a discount. Compulsory Purchase comes at a premium in the real world. Sadly, this matter will now roll through the Courts for years to come at enormous cost.
“And this is the purpose of this press release. I am a Guernsey man. My understanding is that Chief Pleas has a fixed cost arrangement with the Guernsey Law Officers for a minuscule annual sum. This must come to an end. If that is correct then it is the residents of Guernsey that have covered the legal support costs for Chief Pleas nonsense for years. And under the current model, it is Guernsey residents that will pay for what is going to be years of costly litigation. This was confirmed in the States debate.
“Guernsey residents deserve enough teachers, nurses and support for those with disabilities. Make Sark pay for its own nonsense!
“Maybe, when they have to pay for their failures, Chief Pleas will begin acting like a Government and not a mob.”