22/09/2014 BBC Channel Islands News

A ?95 million deficit over three years, and books that don't balance.

Those are the criticisms levelled at Jersey's Treasury Minister today,

as he asked the States to approve his Budget for next year.

It shows States income is less than it's spending, leaving many

That's the States' expected income next year.

And Jersey's States is looking at about a ?30 million shortfall.

The Treasury Minister Senator Philip Ozouf's already ruled out increasing

income tax or GST, so how he'll cover that shortfall is

He wants to increase impot duties on alcohol, tobacco and fuel,

and he wants to raise stamp duty on expensive homes.

And then there are plans to make ?20 million of spending cuts

When your income is under threat, you do not stand there like a fly

waiting for a windscreen. You invest, you build, you bring forward

projects you need to do in the future. Expenditure is going up like

that. We have lost the connection between income and expenditure. You

and I in our private lives, you know, we'll endeavour not to spend

more than we earn. But the States at the moment is just sort of... There

is no connection between our income and spending.

This is a budget that's being described as interim `

because what's decided in the States this week won't be adopted

Senator Ozouf easily survived a vote of no confidence over

the plans recently, and he'll be hoping he can persuade

Co`op shareholders are being asked to save the jobs

of nearly 80 warehouse workers facing redundancy.

The company announced on Friday that it's closing its food distribution

This food warehouse in Jersey stood still this morning as

Co`op workers met with their union after they were told

the food warehouses in the Channel Islands are closing next

summer, putting their jobs at risk ` 23 in Guernsey and 58 in Jersey.

The warehouse workers wouldn't comment on camera.

They said the meeting went well, they've taken all the information

on board and now they are taking action to save their jobs.

The employees of the customer`owned company are now

I will be asking for an emergency meeting of the shareholders and we

are going to put our case to the shareholders and I think it is

important that the shareholders determine whether the proposals to

outsource the business and to make 70 redundancies is appropriate or

not. And now there's even more jobs

at risk. The Co`op is closing this

sport shop in St Peter. We work approached with an offer for

the building which we felt was a good offer and one we needed to

consider. So what we've done with our colleagues at the shop is be

honest and upfront with them and say we are minded to accept this offer

and that will have a material impact on their roles.

Guernsey employees facing redundancy are meeting with

They want the local company to be more locally minded.

Co`op bosses say there will be job opportunities in their new store,

at the former GT Cars site in Guernsey as well as

But with only 50 jobs available, not everyone will necessarily get one.

Police in Thailand say they plan to carry out DNA tests on all men

on the island where Jerseyman David Miller and Hannah Witheridge from

They said they are looking for three or possibly more men.

A multi`million pound project to regenerate

a derelict site destroyed by fire has been given the green light.

Guernsey's Environment Department has granted permission to build

a luxury hotel on the former Idle Rocks site in St Martins,

Over ten years ago, the Idlerocks Hotel was ravaged

Following a second fire two syear ago, parts of the hotel's

It's long been an eyesore, and permission has just been granted

to transform it into five`star hotel.

The plans include 35 en`suite bedrooms, a spa, restaurant and

This is an eco`friendly hotel. It has a green roof and green walls. It

has been purposely designed to building with the topography and

landscape of the site. We have designed something which will be

having minimal impact on the landscape.

The owners of the site have to meet certain

conditions, such as allow the States archaeologist access to the site,

Guernsey's National Trust has voiced concerns and says it'll be

There are conditions imposed on the planning application which have been

approved, and no doubt, we will be very interested to see how it

develops. The hotel is expected to be

completed within three years, a big investment hoping to

attract big spenders to Guernsey. Have a look at this film, full of

flashes, of Friday night's lightning storm. We thought it was pretty

special. The weather. Starting to feel a bit more autumnal

now. The colder night tonight than recently. Perhaps more of a breeze

developing this week as well. Temperatures have already come down.

Tomorrow is another fine and dry day with the sunshine. A top temperature

of 17 or 18 degrees. Overnight tonight, that patchy cloud tending

to melt away overnight. Perhaps low cloud appearing in the morning but

it should be dry and cold. Temperatures down to 12 degrees and

for tomorrow, light wind to start with an patchy cloud. Sunshine

breaking through that and the wind picking up somewhat in the

afternoon. They become north`westerly by the end of the

afternoon soap maximum temperatures of around 17 or 18 degrees. The

outlook is for more cloud in general to develop towards the end of the

week. I think it is still dry story although on Wednesday we have the

remains of a weather system bringing cloud across. Slow to move away. It

brightens up on Thursday and Friday. Quite a bit of cloud around and

breeze developing. Wind mainly from the West over the next three or four

days. In a second, full forecast for the United Kingdom. From the Channel

Islands, good night. Temperatures are not bad for the

time of year. For much of the UK, this week will

stay drier than average and warmer than average. We normally expect

temperatures of around 22 degrees, but by the end of the week we could

get into the low 20s. With clear skies at this time of year, it does

turn chilly through the evening. More cloud in the north, with a weak

weather front producing patchy and light rain. Temperatures should stay

in double figures underneath that area of cloud. To the north and

south, we are getting fairly close to freezing in the countryside, so a

chilly start tomorrow morning. Also the