Select a region
When your job involves promoting the humble potato and working alongside the Island's treasured rugby stars, it’s hard to find a role more ‘Jersey’.
So William Church, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Jersey Royal Company and Honorary Secretary for the Jersey Rugby Football Club, is rather well-placed to share the five things he'd change for Jersey to get ahead. Here, he talks everything from Jersey cows to States shake-ups...
I would promote the brand ‘Jersey’ rather than direct States’ funding primarily into the Finance sector and Tourism. Agriculture with the Jersey cow and Jersey Royal new potato does a huge amount to advertise the Island to many people on the mainland and other far-reaching corners of the earth, and yet it receives a diminishing amount of States’ support year on year.
Agricultural exports contribute a large revenue to the shipping companies, and north-bound freight is used to off-set the costs (subsidise) of running the boats both with regards to south-bound freight as well as all passenger traffic.
Pictured: Jersey cows do a "huge amount" to advertise the Island, says Mr Church.
I’d like to see more recycling and generally less waste across the whole Island; in this I include seeing islanders taking more care of Jersey. One of my absolute pet hates is rubbish, and there is too much of that dumped in coastal areas and in the countryside as well as bottles and crisp packets dropped in town, in play areas and parks, on pavements and on the sides of roads. We don’t need more people to tidy up, we need to see a cultural change where people take responsibility of their waste and dispose of it properly.
Bring back the cable car to the Fort and make more use of the facility there to provide year-round entertainment for locals and tourists. There have been some great new additions to the many attractions that Jersey has to offer in the form of Tamba Park and the aMaizin Adventure Park to go alongside Durrell, the War Tunnels and all of the Heritage sites, but if Jersey wants to reinvigorate its place as a tourist destination it needs to have all-year-round attractions.
Pictured: Tamba Park, one of the newest attractions on the Island.
We need a complete review of the structure of the States, including reducing the number of Deputies as a way to reduce the number of States members, whilst maintaining or increasing the number of Senators who, with an Island wide mandate are the most fairly (democratically) elected members of the house.
Further to this, I believe that there should be a review of the pay structure – the salary on offer attracts some members who would be unlikely to earn that in the private sector, and yet isn’t enough to attract ‘captains of industry’ who could perhaps better manage the Island.
With a more stream-lined group of States members, I’d like to see more positive decisions taken rather than spending huge sums of money on one consultant after another. If you have more of the right people in place in the first instant then you wouldn’t have to keep spending money on consultants to get answers to the questions in hand, but I recognise that a lot of this has been driven by a perpetual risk averse culture that now unfortunately exists in society and the fact that no one wants to be wrong.
Let’s encourage volunteers and highlight their commitment to community causes, because life is not all about making money.
Volunteers are needed in so many areas to run and organise sports clubs, charities and other community social clubs. I am heavily involved with Jersey Rugby Club, and, whilst there is a good team of people running the different sections, we are always looking out for more help with fund-raising, managing and coaching the minis and juniors and on match days.
Pictured: Jersey Rugby in full swing.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.