Work on hospital and Alderney Airport to be paused to give States time to plug financial hole

Funding for all major capital projects in Guernsey is to be paused until a debate in July.

The works include planned renovation on the hospital, Alderney Airport and coastal defences around the island.

This decision comes a few weeks after the States failed in its attempts to introduce a goods and services tax on the island.

It is now working out other ways to plug its financial black hole, which some estimates put at around £85 million.

In a letter, Policy and Resources President, Deputy Peter Ferbrache, wrote that this pause will give the committees time to reassess what savings can be made going forward.

"All schemes in the current portfolio will be examined to determine whether they could be paused, delayed, stopped or re-scoped based on strategic fit, affordability, deliverability and impact."

However, Deputy Roffey worries this might create an atmosphere that pits the committees against each other.

He says: "I fear what the debates are going to be like in the States in July.

"It's going to be education versus health versus affordable housing. It's going to be a fight."

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