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Living on an island nine miles by five, surrounded by beaches and the sea, Dave Cabeldu holds Jersey’s shoreline amongst the most important things we must learn to protect and preserve.
Minus one break, he has been working for 23 years as a coordinator and researcher for Save Our Shoreline Jersey, which aims to act as a watchdog to protect our local coastline from further reclamation, pollution and inappropriate development.
Dave has recently focused on issues away from the coast and launched a petition to give doctors and nurses a say in where the new hospital should be built. It quickly gathered over 1,000 signatures, and the States pledged that hospital staff would be balloted as a result.
Express asked him the five things he would change about Jersey, and, perhaps surprisingly for someone who lives and breathes that salty sea air and concerned about Future Hospital project, his ideas aren't all water-based, and look at issues beyond the health of a certain £466miliion project too...
Jersey currently has many more vehicles than people, and the situation will only escalate until something is done. Some years ago I visited Bermuda which has a limit of one vehicle per household and it has made a huge difference to the quality of life. Realistically in Jersey, our best option would be to freeze the amount of registration numbers issued on the basis of one vehicle in, one vehicle out. Exemptions would apply (emergency services etc).
Pictured: Trying to find a car park space in the mornings before work is a big struggle, Dave thinks we should be using other methods to get to work which in turn could potentially lead to less cars.
A lifestyle rethink may be required, which in the long-term would encourage the use of car sharing, cycling and public transport and otherwise be beneficial to all, for the slight inconvenience of few.
Potentially dangerous old cars would be scrapped earlier to release the registration numbers for re-registering. For a time there would a short waiting list for new registrations to become available, but also having the effect of improving used car sales. The benefits to everyone on the roads would be quickly noticeable and beneficial to the island.
It never ceases to surprise me how so many candidates standing for election for the States can be so lacking in their general knowledge of the running of the island and have so little understanding of the issues the island faces.
Pictured: Should we be voting for candidates who have little understanding of how the Island is run and the issues we all want to see resolved?
The answer would be to make all candidates sit a simple test on local knowledge and have a basic understanding of how our Government works. Basic literacy and communication skills should be mandatory. States Members receive numerous reports that they have to fully understand in order to fulfill their job. These often include complex financial tables etc. This requirement is not discriminatory - they cannot do the job without these skills; in fact to have people in power who do not understand the facts is not only undesirable it is dangerous.
I also suggest that all candidates put down a non-refundable deposit should they secure less than an agreed amount of the votes cast.
At present unless a child at secondary school gets into Hautlieu for 'A' levels, and if their parents can’t afford the fees to send them to one of the private schools to sit ‘A’ levels, their academic career is over. There are some mainly vocational courses available at Highlands College but not key ‘A’ Level courses such as English Literature, Maths etc. They cannot do a suite of ‘A’ levels in the day time. The obvious solution to this would be to create a non-fee paying sixth form.
Pictured: Dave thinks there needs to be more opportunities available to those who finish their GCSE's and wish to go onto A-Levels.
This situation puts those children whose parents have a lower income at a disadvantage, and limits their horizons. Our Education system is failing children by writing them off at an early age.
Ruth Smith, a previous contributor to this page recently mentioned the unsightly incinerator (east elevation). Whilst we wait 30 years for the trees to grow, I suggest there be a competition for artists to submit designs that would be suitable to be enlarged and painted on the grey forbidding face that dominates the bay of Havre des Pas and beyond. Hardly a welcome each day to French tourists passing through our precious Ramsar Area.
Pictured: The current La Collette site is an eye-sore and needs a lick of imagination or paint to give some life to it.
The design could a trompe l’oeil perhaps, of Elizabeth Castle, hidden from view from some angles? Or a pod of dolphins leaping over the reclamation site? Even a sign saying ‘Ramsar Area terminates here’. Few seem to know this as its not well promoted and it really should be better signposted at least.
I support the idea of light shows on the incinerator on occasions such as Liberation Day, the Havre des Pas Festival etc. The expertise is locally available but up until now the various authorities, seemingly lacking vision and imagination, have not co-operated.
My last wish is for us all to rethink the definition of a local. It is not about how many centuries one’s family has been here or whether one’s surname sounds ‘Jersey’. It is simply whether the person feels that our island has truly become their home.
Pictured: What makes an individual a Jersey 'local' to you?
The test is simple. Just ask: "Where do you live?” If the answer is "On Jersey", they aren't ‘local’. If they reply “In Jersey”, they are true Islanders.
The opinions expressed in this piece are those of the author and not Bailiwick Express.
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