Slogans or substance?

 

“Stop Burning, Start recycling”; “Havre des Pas is the jewel of St Helier”; “Senator Freddie Cohen is the greatest political leader of Planning in a decade”; “The Council of Ministers is too Waterfront-centric”; “The Campaign to stop the incinerator starts here”.

In some ways the Constable of St Helier, Simon Crowcroft, could be described as the most important politician to Chamber members when you consider the issues which connect them – traffic, retail, waste and recycling, the waterfront, pedestrianisation, rates, creation of a new financial district etc. Perhaps in recognition of that, his speech at the latest Chamber lunch contained many strong political statements.  But distilling his exact position on some issues facing St Helier is a little more difficult.  Take this example – he is totally against the current plans to build a new incinerator at La Collette (see above, “Stop burning, start recycling).  But is he against any new incinerator there?  No.  Actually, just not one of the proposed size, which means its not so much “Stop burning, start recycling”, as “Burn less, recycle more”.  Another example.  “Havre des Pas is the jewel of St Helier”.  Really?  More valuable that King/Queen street?  Royal Square? The new financial district? Would the majority of shoppers and workers who spend most of their days in town, but who probably don’t go near Havre des Pas from one year to the next, agree?

The above is not to say Constable Crowcroft didn’t give a good performance. He was direct, friendly and brief, particularly when answering questions of which, for once, there were a good number. And on issues such as minimising the traffic disruption caused by the waterfront developments, and installing a new Town Centre Manager (paid for in Yr 1 by EDD), Constable Crowcroft was preaching to the converted.

The issue for some members after the speech was more that they now had a good understanding of what the Constable opposed; but they wanted more detail on the solutions, and how they would affect the many members who spend the majority of their time, at work, in St Helier.