Ice rink u-turn a “first class” job

Wednesday 16 November 2016

First it was off, then it was on and finally it was off - but the Chief Minister yesterday defended the decision to put the Christmas rink at Fort Regent on ice.

Last week, the Economic Development, Sport and Culture Department looked at the likely costs and decided to pull out, fearing to go ahead with supporting the rink would lose tens of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money. Earlier, Ministers had promised to support it, following a direct appeal from organisers to the Chief Minister.

They were unhappy that a rival ice rink was being run at the Weighbridge, and supported by the States-owned Jersey Development Company.

Speaking in the States yesterday, Deputy Andrew Lewis accused Chief Minister Ian Gorst of a failing to communicate: “Is the Chief Minister of the belief there is effective enough communication between Government departments and arms-length bodies such as the Jersey Development Company and if there is, could this then avoid embarrassing situations like the one involving the ice rink.

“A clever person solves a problem, a wise person avoids it, that’s a quote from Albert Einstein. Does the Minister feel he could have avoided this problem by communicating better with the arms-length bodies in question?”

The Chief Minister replied: “I have been criticised for even responding to a Facebook petition asking me to involve myself and I am criticised if I don’t involve myself.

“I think that the work the Economic Development team did was first class. They initially looked at some out-of-date information and when they rightly updated that information, they on balance felt the potential loss was one they would not wish to bear.

“What they have done is set up a meeting for January to avoid this happening again in the future.”