Since the Committee last reported to the Assembly, the emphasis has been on delivery: improving services, progressing key projects, and being realistic about available resources. What can realistically be done with the people and money available.
Since our last update, the Committee has published its work plan for this political term. Our priorities are practical: improving climate and coastal resilience, planning infrastructure for the long term, strengthening energy security, delivering more reliable on island transport and protecting the natural environment.
This update therefore concentrates on what has changed since April, where the Committee is driving improvements, and what islanders should expect next.
Transport and everyday services
I will start with buses, I will be the first to admit that the service has not been good enough in the past few weeks. Stagecoach has accepted that it has fallen short. The Committee has been pressing the company every week, and its Managing Director is meeting us today to set out the action being taken to deliver the service islanders are entitled to expect under the contract.
Although I was unable to attend the recent Bus Users Group meeting due to pre-planned surgery in the UK, I will be meeting representatives and the Managing Director next week to discuss their concerns.
People rely on these buses to get to work, school, appointments, and family. The operator must now turn its commitments into a service that is reliable on the road, not just reassuring to us on paper. The Committee will be using all the levers in the contract to ensure that this happens and happens soon.
Contract management weaknesses have been identified and are being addressed.
There is positive news too. Two further electric buses have arrived, completing this phase of fleet replacement, and they will enter service in the coming weeks. We are modernising the fleet in ameasured way with these vehicles that have lower whole-life costs than diesel vehicles, while ensuring that Stagecoach are keeping the focus on the basics: buses that are clean, dependable and there when the timetable says they will be.
Road safety work continues as well. In the last academic year, 402 students completed Bikeability. Thatis 402 young people with better skills and more confidence on our roads. It is a modest scheme with a very practical result.
In September, we also introduced a new online process for temporary traffic management applications, together with scalable charges. Applicants can now provide the information digitally. It reduces paper handling, saves officer time and make the coordination of roadworks across the network more efficient, helping to reduce conflicts and unnecessary disruption. Just as importantly, the new charges recover the costs of processing, coordinating, signing and checking traffic management more directly from those who require it, rather than leaving those costs with the taxpayer generally. It may not set many hearts racing, but efficient government rarely comes with a fanfare.
Following the States' decision on transport-related taxation, implementation is now a priority workstream. We will work with the tax reform programme to prepare carefully and make the arrangements as clear and workable as possible. That work has consequences for capacity and timing elsewhere, and we will be open about those choices rather than pretend everything can be done at once.
Essential infrastructure
The new Animal and Clinical Waste Incinerator is in the final stages of been completion, and Cold commissioning is completed.
Hot commissioning and reliability testing are now well under way until the full introduction of waste in November
The project has taken longer than planned due to supplier issues but remains within budget.
Once fully in service, the new facility will replace ageing equipment, reduce operating costs, and provide a more efficient long-term service.
On coastal defence, along with the day-to-day maintenance on walls and other features, on a priority basis, the Committee is enhancing the practical information used to plan maintenance and future investment. Work is progressing on a consolidated condition report, supported by anelectronic asset register and a forward maintenance schedule for sea defences and coastal features.
This will help identify priorities earlier, plan repairs more systematically and support future investment decisions
We are also on track to complete under budget the vast majority of coastal revenue works by the end of the year.
Work on the implementation of an enabling flood defence in the Bridge area continues. This project will help unlock development at major housing sites including Leale's Yard and sites in and around the Braye du Valle area, as well as provide enhanced protection against major flood events for key infrastructure, businesses and households located in the area.
Site investigations works have now been completed, and the results are being reviewed which will inform the short-list of potential design options, from which a preferred flood defence design should be chosen. This deliverable represents the completion of Stage 1 of the project.
Stage 2 will involve detailed design work, a planning application and procurement of construction works.
It is anticipated that stage 2 of the project will commence in January next year. This will be followed with a planning application and an invitation to tender for the construction works.
The Committee continues to supportboth the Braye du Valle regeneration area and Guernsey Development Agency through the Political Oversight Groups and through direct work with the services whose responsibilities overlap with the Agency's plans. Our role is to help keep that work joined up with transport, flood protection, energy and the wider needsof the area.
Energy and resilience
Energy security is not an abstract subject on an island. We import much of what we use, so resilience, affordability and reducing our reliance on oil must be addressed together.
The Committee has been working with Guernsey Electricity and the States' Trading Supervisory Board on the next steps to deliver additional electricity interconnection, as agreed by the States a couple of years ago. A joint policy letter is due to come before the States before the end of the year.
Investment is needed to improve resilience, reduce reliance on the on-island power station and limit exposure to oil-price fluctuations.
We are also contributing to the work led by Policy & Resources on offshore wind. That work crosses many policy areas, which is why it must remain connected to the Electricity Strategy and to the Marine Spatial Plan.
Developers and islanders alike need clarity about how these issues are being considered.
Alongside that, officers continue to assess options for the future supply of hydrocarbons, working with local fuel suppliers. The intention is to return to the States with a proposed approach in 2027. We continue to monitor international developments and maintain contact with UK counterparts and local suppliers. At present, the Committee's focus is on evidence, contingency planning and keeping the island informed.
Trade and environmental health
The announced UK-EU summit on 20 November is also important for Guernsey. Our officers, supported by External Relations and other States’ teams, have been working with UK counterparts on the possible Sanitary and Phytosanitary arrangements in any revised UK-EU arrangements.
Guernsey's inclusion remains subject to wider political approval. But significant progress has been made on how the necessary work could operate if the States agrees that inclusion is right for us.
If agreement is reached, we will need to move quickly to secure those benefits.
Our natural environment
Good progress has been made on Guernsey's first Marine Spatial Plan. The community response to the summer survey was strong and showed both a clear wish to protect the marine environment and an interest in the opportunities of the blue economy, including renewable energy. The draft plan will be published for consultation before a final version is brought to the Assembly in the second half of nextyear.
There has also been positive engagement from the dairy industry with the new Public Goods Credit Scheme approved by the States last year. This year's dry conditions were a reminder that land needs to be managed for resilience as well as production. The scheme is designed to help farmers do that while delivering benefits for the environment.
Our Land Management team is working with major land owners and the Fire Service on practical planning for wildfire risk. No land-management approach can remove that risk altogether, but coordinated planning can identify sensible steps to reduce it and improve preparedness and response if an incident occurs.
Asian hornets have presented a much greater challenge across the Channel Islands this year. The Committee will review its strategy at the end of the season, as it does each year. I want to thank the volunteers who support this work.
With an operational budget of around £10,000 a year, early detection and control can avoid far greater costs in future.
Officers have also worked closely with Vive La Vallette following the bathing pool water-quality issue,and discussions continue on longer-term improvements to the shared cesspit. The immediate task wasto respond quickly. The longer-term task is to reduce the chance of a repeat.
A realistic programme
Madam, this is a wide mandate, and we will not pretend money or staff time is unlimited. Some decisions are and will be difficult. Some projects will need to be sequenced. The test must be whether the work protects essential services, improves resilience, offers value for money, and makes a real difference to island life.
That is why the Committee will keep reviewing its work plan and its priorities. We will challenge poor performance, as we are doing on buses. We will back practical improvements, such as the digital roadworks process.
The work is not about grand claims. Much of what we do is unseen unless it goes wrong It is about steady delivery: safer journeys, stronger infrastructure, secure supplies, healthy land and seas, and public services that use limited resources with care.
There is a great deal still to do, but there is also solid and real progress. This Committee will keep working with colleagues across the States, with Alderney, with industry, volunteers, and the wider community. We will listen, we will challenge, and we will get on with the job.