23/11/2017 Channel Islands News

That's all from the BBC News at Six.

Welcome to BBC Channel Islands

this Thursday evening.

Our top stories tonight...

Lifeboats will be restored

to St Helier, as the RNLI pledges

to train new local crew for inshore

and all-weather craft.

We will start training the Saturday

and other RNLI volunteers in Jersey,

to bring the service pack as soon as

we can.

Cancel the cuts - Guernsey's sport

and arts events can go ahead

after a funding U-turn.

There has been such a huge outcry

and the amount of support that both

arts and sports have received over

the last ten days has been great.

Weak decision-making leading

to extra costs and delays -

a critical report into the planning

of Jersey's new hospital.

Jersey's only all-weather lifeboat

will be back in the island

by the end of the year

and the St Helier inshore lifeboat

should be ready to respond

to emergencies next month.

That's the announcement

from the RNLI today,

which says it's able to reinstate

the St Helier service because of

a partnership with Jersey's Fire

and Rescue Service and enough

volunteers for a new crew.

Emma Chambers reports.

A shocking scene as Jersey's only

all-weather lifeboat is withdrawn

from service last Friday,

the end of the RNLI's relationship

with this St Helier lifeboat crew.

Seven days on, the doors

of the station may still be locked,

but not for much longer.

We weren't sure at the end of last

week what support we would get

for the return of the service

and actually we've been really

encouraged by the number of people

who've come forward,

shown support for the RNLI and said

they would like to be part

of a crew going forward.

So we are now looking at bringing

the all-weather boat

the George Sullivan back

to the island at the end

of the year for training.

And they say St Helier's inshore

lifeboat will be ready

for action next month,

due to a new partnership

with the Fire Service.

But this has been described

as a premature move by the crew

at the heart of the dispute.

We are actually setting up today

a petition for an independent

inquiry into what's gone

on and I think until that's done

the RNLI should not be bringing

the boat back into St Helier,

because will they treat

the crew the same as they've

treated the present crew.

They're volunteers and this has

caused so much stress and distress

to the families and the crew and it

needs to be resolved.

The former St Helier crew

are launching their own independent

rescue service, but it's unknown

if it will raise enough money

for their own lifeboat,

and with the George Sullivan out

of action until the new RNLI crew

is trained, Jersey's

still without its own all-weather

lifeboat.

The harbour master has a complete

list of everybody he can

call on if he needs too,

but we can't get away from the top

priority which is to return

lifeboats to St Helier to be used

by the harbour master,

by the coastguard if they're needed.

And that's what I'm working

on with government making sure,

whoever it is, let's get a lifeboat,

a proper lifeboat, a properly

trained crew, proper kit,

let's get it signed off

by the harbour master

and let's get to work.

But that work can only happen

with islanders' support.

And after a very public dispute

that's divided opinion and possibly

damaged reputations,

will islanders back the RNLI

or the former St Helier Crew?

Deputy Peter Ferbrache has

resigned as the President

of Guernsey's Committee for Economic

Development.

As yet he's not explained

why he's stepped down,

but will stay in the role

until his successor

is appointed next month.

The rest of the committee say

they're disappointed

and thank him for his work.

Meanwhile...

Public money for sports and arts

events in Guernsey and Alderney

will be available next year,

after a funding U-turn.

The Committee for Economic

Development controversially told

the Sports and Arts Commissions

they'd get no more money

from the Events Group Budget.

But today they changed their minds.

I spoke to David Harry

from the Guernsey Sports Commission

straight after that meeting

with politicians, and asked

if he was relieved.

Very much so. It came as a huge

surprise when it was taken away

without any justification that we

could see. To have it restored now

is good news for Guernsey sport and

the arts commission as well.

This

U-turn in a short time, it has

messed people around in the sports

and arts world. Is there upset about

that?

The sports and arts community

have been upset by what has

happened. The communities believe

they are somewhat devalued in what

they do so to see a better result

than was opposed is clearly good

news.

Economic development wants to

see sports and the arts bring people

to Guernsey, it is economically

beneficial, how do you prove that?

I

think it is evidenced by the huge

outcry over the last ten days and

the support that sports and arts

have received has been great. I am

grateful. I think we have to work

with Economic Development and the

tourism part to make sure they know

what value there is to Guernsey of

the grants they pay to us.

How do

you describe the relationship

between the sports and arts

communities and Economic

Development?

A lot better now than

it was about one hour ago when we

went into the meeting. I think that

the committee realised they had made

a mistake in what they did. They

apologised for that and they were

clearly happy to accept that

apology. Going forward I think we

must be positive and see what we can

do to make things better for the

future.

So, good news for Guernsey's

sports and arts groups,

but still no news on the future

of public funding for Alderney's air

link to Southampton.

The Economic Development Committee

is meeting tonight,

without its newly resigned

president, to discuss

whether the route is a lifeline

service, and if it should continue

to get financial backing.

A young couple who died

when their car crashed onto rocks

on Guernsey's west coast in July

could have been travelling at up

to 80mph, according to police

accident investigators.

An inquest into the death

of 25-year-old Georgina Le Prevost,

whose partner, 27-year-old

Stuart Mourat, was driving,

concluded she died of asphyxiation

following the collision

at Le Catioroc in St Saviours.

Mr Mourat was found to be more

than two and a half times over

the legal driving limit for alcohol.

A woman in St Helier

was injured when two men

stole her purse and her mobility

scooter toppled over.

Jersey Police describe the theft

in Clarendon Road yesterday evening

as a particularly unpleasant crime

on a vulnerable islander.

The men, thought to be

in their late teens to early 20s,

ran off towards Palmyra Road,

leaving the woman shaken

and with minor injuries.

The police want to hear

from any witnesses.

Weak decision making led

to additional costs and delays

to Jersey's new hospital.

That's one of the findings

of Jersey's Auditor,

who's reviewed the process up

to February last year,

when People's Park was dropped

as a potential site.

Jen Smith reports.

This project will cost Jersey

proportionatly the equivalent

of what the multi-billion-pound

high-speed train will cost the UK,

so every decision counts.

And Jersey's Auditor General says

the delays in decision making have

added to the expense,

one of a number of issues

the report's highlighted.

The man in charge of scrutinising

how public money is spent says

the findings are alarming.

The delays have certainly resulted

in costs, the failure to supply

reliable information has resulted

in the consultants having to get

that information themselves,

and decisions have been aborted

because information was not correct.

Which might help explain how around

£17 million of public money had been

spent by February 2016.

Originally the new hospital had

a £250 million price tag.

This is now around 466 million.

Jersey's Health Minister

doesn't accept the costs

could have been smaller.

I think the way I read

what the Comptroller

and Auditor General was saying

is that decisions took longer

than they should have done

because she's rightly looking at it

purely in a business sense.

If you overlay the political aspects

that we have to work in,

it becomes much more complicated.

And it's right that she doesn't

comment on that, but it is a fact

that a project can tick

all the right boxes but be

politically undeliverable.

The report author has made

several recommendations,

which the Minister says

he's now following.

But that won't help reduce money

already spent or time wasted.

And Jen joins me now to talk

through that report in more detail.

So delays have caused extra costs.

Are there any other criticisms?

There is a lot in a 42-page

report, and there are

a few stand-out phrases.

The Comptroller and Auditor General

mentions that when looking at sites

the team did it without "effective

input from clinicians".

So they didn't talk to experts,

the people who can tell them

what a hospital needs to work.

The report also mentions

there were too many people involved.

"Smaller political

oversight" was needed,

which did eventually happen.

And interestingly it

brings up the waterfront.

It reminds us that the site

of the new car park by the Radisson

topped the list for the new hospital

initially, followed closely

by the Esplanade car park.

But after concerns were raised

about where the Finance Centre

would go, the Esplanade car park

was dropped from the list.

And Jardins de la Mare disappeared

with little explanation.

Jersey's Health Minister did

acknowledge expert advice should

have been listened to earlier,

and the terms of reference

for the future hospital project

needed to be established

from the start.

Time for a look at the weather.

We have some wet weather coming our

way, not too far away at the moment

and it will move across the islands

overnight tonight. It may ease off

for a time but come back tomorrow.

Today -- tomorrow is a cloudy day,

feeling colder, light winds and the

rain will clear towards the end of

the evening. There are three parts

of cloud at the moment. They all

combine to form one main line of

rain which will move along the

English Channel for a time during

the time overnight. It is never too

far away from us for much of the day

tomorrow and it means outbreaks of

rain. Then everything moves through.

This is the boundary between the

mild area and cold air. Once it

moves south of us we get to

north-west winds and lower

temperatures and those winds coming

from the Arctic. A big drop in

temperature in the weekend. Tonight,

some quite heavy rain which will

ease for a time and then come back

towards dawn tomorrow. Tomorrow is

rather grey. Patchy rain quite

widespread around the middle of the

day and then beginning to break up

with brief breaks developing in the

cloud in the afternoon. Not

particularly warm tomorrow and also

rather grey. Not much for surfing.

The weekend forecast has plenty of

showers on Saturday, a cold feeling

on Saturday as well with a

north-west wind. A possible frost

overnight into Sunday. Sunday's cold

but bright. Turning milder on

Monday.

Look

Look ahead to tomorrow on BBC Radio

Guernsey. The president of economic

development committee resigned

today. The deputy will be on the

breakfast show tomorrow morning just

after 7am to give his reasons. Now

let's join Dustin and Victoria.