LE PELLEY; Paul Raymond

Manifesto to follow..

I am asking for your support to enable me to become one of your six representatives in the States of Deliberation in the Deputies Election which is to be held on Wednesday 18th April, 2012.

My name is Paul Le Pelley. I am married to Catherine and we have two children – a daughter at University in Durham and a son at secondary school in Guernsey.

I have lived and/or worked in St Sampson’s for the last 40 years.

I am currently working for the National Trust of Guernsey as the Curator of the Folk and Costume Museum in Saumarez Park.

Before that I was an English, history and Community Studies teacher at St Sampson’s Secondary School.If you, or your children, were educated there between 1973 and 2004, I think you will know who I am.

I was elected a Constable of St Sampson’s parish towards the end of 2010.

I promise you that I will continue to work tirelessly on your behalf whether I am elected or not.

Here are some of the main points in my manifesto:

Education

• Our 1970 Guernsey Education Law is outdated.
  
• The High School sector of education has been reviewed and action commenced.
  
• We need a similar review of the primary sector; also investigation of the Link programme.
  
• Primary sector ‘Reading Ages’ need raising – and further improving throughout the secondary sector. (A child with a “Reading Age” less than 14 will struggle at KS4.)
  
• We need more teachers, smaller classes and better facilities.
  
• Parents should be more involved and ‘Governing Body’ systems utilised in all schools.
  
• More rigorous Ofsted-type inspections should be carried out.
  
• Retain excellent non-local teachers beyond five-year housing licence limit.
  

Financial Restraint

• More difficult times lie ahead. We need to exercise financial restraint.
  
• Only essential spending should be countenanced in the next year or so – until the “black hole” is eradicated.
  
• Essential spending includes: education, health care, care of the elderly and disabled.
  
• Capital projects, such as the harbour and airport up-gradings are essential improvements to the island’s (future) infrastructure and are a necessary investment.
  
• We must give the next generation a reasonable legacy – not more financial worry.
  
• I do not want to see excessive spending resulting in introduction of GST, paid parking or “stealth taxes”.
  
• We must live within our means.
  

Machinery of Government

• ‘Machinery of Government’ policy – adopted 2004 – needs to be reviewed.
  
• A few things were mended that were not broken.
  
• There are too many politicians; the Chief Minister has too much power.
  
• The traditional link between the parishes and the government has been damaged by the removal of the Douzaine Representatives from the States.
  
• States Strategic Plan still has some way to go before joined-up government is achieved.
  
• We need to resolve the issue of Island-Wide Voting (IWV) in time for the next election in 2016.
  
• We need to make decisions and stick to them. We must avoid making expensive ‘u-turns’.
  

paullepelley@cwgsy.net

Dear St Sampson’s Voter,
My name is Paul Le Pelley. I am married to Catherine and we have two children – a daughter at University in Durham and a son at secondary school in Guernsey. I have lived and/or worked in St Sampson’s for the last 40 years. I am currently working for the National Trust of Guernsey as the Curator of the Folk and Costume Museum in Saumarez Park. Before
that I was an English, History and Community Studies teacher at St Sampson’s Secondary School. [If you, or your children, were educated there between 1973 and 2004, I think you will know who I am.]
My interests are many and varied: Family comes first; followed, in no particular order, by reading, writing, local history and traditions, service to the community, travel and training people to become accredited tour guides.
I hope to meet you during my election campaign – I intend to walk the whole parish in the next three weeks – or at the hustings. It is all too easy to make empty promises in the run up to an election and then find all sorts of excuses for not being able to deliver them once in office. This I will not do. I do not have all of the answers to all of the island’s problems but I promise you that I will work tirelessly on your behalf if I am elected.
I am currently in my second year as one of your parish constables. I have been much involved in setting up a monthly parish surgery at the Douzaine Room which will take-off properly at the end of this election. The surgery is manned by constables, parish welfare officers and douzeniers of the parish. Community Police are also in attendance. Parish Deputies will all be invited to attend once this current election process is completed. I am also hoping to set up a parish magazine. Contributions from parishioners, school, youth and church groups will be most welcome.
Where are we now?
The last four years have been tough with the recession
slowly but surely taking a grip. Things are going to get
worse before they get better.
Current Issues that Need to be Addressed
Finance
With the UK government taking a much closer interest
in our affairs of late - the abolition of Low Value
Consignment Relief (LVCR) and HM Customs and
Revenue challenging the avoidance of Stamp Duty by
people using Guernsey’s off-shore company legislation,
we are going to have to be much more diligent in what
our finance industry does. Having said that, it is
important to remember that the finance industry drives
our economy. It pays for our schools, hospitals, police
and other important services. Spending restraint is
needed now not extra taxation. I do not support the idea
of introducing a Goods and Services Tax (GST) as it will
unfairly target lower earners.
Education
The current Education Law, which came into being in
1970, is very much out-dated. It needs to be amended
to fit in with the needs of the 21st century.
The Mulkerrin Report on secondary education has made
numerous valid criticisms which are now being
addressed. A similar review is now needed of the
primary schools and the whole concept of the Link
Centre needs to be investigated. The loss of excellent
teachers because of the five year housing law also
needs to be addressed urgently. Our children deserve
the very best education we can give them.
Unemployment
With the removal of LVCR on 1st April this year a lot of
people involved both directly and indirectly with the
fulfilment industry are likely to become unemployed.
Others will also be laid off as recession continues. We
need to ensure that our finances are healthy enough to
carry these people until the economy recovers. We will
also need to ensure that other jobs will be available to
them when we come out of recession.
Health
The Reciprocal Health Agreement between Guernsey
and the UK needs to be re-established as soon as
possible. I would also like to have assurances that the
plan, suggested by Oxford Economics, to fly in private
patients (medical tourists) for surgery in the PEH would
not mean that local non-private patients would have to
wait even longer for their treatment and/or operations.
Housing
Even more efforts should be made to enable young
islanders to buy and own their own houses. It worries
me greatly that so many islanders have to live in poor
quality housing or are forced to leave the island because
they cannot afford to live here.
Social Care
We need to become an even more caring society - one
which supports communities, families and individuals to
the very best of our ability. We need to make better
provision for the elderly, the disabled, the poor and the
mentally ill.
The Environment
We must continue to reduce our carbon footprint. We
can do this in part by conserving energy and using
cleaner fuels. We also need to manage our solid and
liquid waste more effectively. As soon as we are in a
more comfortable financial position, we must make
better arrangements to treat our sewage before it is
pumped out to sea.
Population
Despite assurances that our population is growing only
slowly, I, like many others, suspect that there are a lot
more people living on the island than the relevant
authorities think there are. A saving of about £100,000
was made by not conducting a census in 2011, but I
think we will live to regret not obtaining useful data to
help us better plan for the future.
Traffic Strategy
This is long overdue and needs to be attended to
quickly. We have too many cars on the island and more
must be done to encourage people to use public
transport. Not only do we all suffer long tail-backs at
peak times, we are also polluting the atmosphere and
wasting expensive fuel. I am strongly against the idea
of paid parking on States owned (public) land.
Tourism
Visitors to the island still come in vast numbers. More
cruise ships than ever are now calling and once the
airport project is completed no doubt even more will
want to come by air. We need to ensure that the island
remains an attractive destination - with quality
attractions for them to visit and top class hotels for them
to stay in. Our infrastructure needs to be maintained at
a very high level to accommodate them and to
encourage them to make return visits and/or advertise
our quality to family and friends.
Government
Our government needs to be more accountable and
open to scrutiny. Do we really need 45 deputies?
Should we have Island-Wide Voting? And if so, how can
this be best achieved? We need to re-visit the Machinery
of Government Report of 2004 to see if further changes
are required.
Thanks
I should like to thank Dan Le Cheminant (Proposer) and
Philippe Martin (Seconder) for nominating me for this
election. Thank you too for taking the time to read this
document. Please give me your support - and one of
your six votes - on Election Day so I can take these
issues further in the new States of Deliberation.