Need to upgrade means 'more roadworks in future'

Networks need to be upgraded, said the minister

Islanders should be braced for "more roadworks rather than less in future" due to the need to upgrade various networks, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan has said.

He told a scrutiny panel that inaction would cause "more disruption" than planned works.

Constable Jehan was responding to a question from Deputy David Warr, who described roadworks over the summer as "neither co-ordinated nor strategic".

It follows concern from residents and businesses in St Clement and Trinity about the impact closures were having on their areas.

During a quarterly meeting of the States' Environment, Housing and Infrastructure panel, Jehan was pressed on the decision to do significant roadworks all at once, during the summer school holiday.

Warr suggested the "digging up of all the roads" over the summer had caused "massive disruption", and asked the minister how he justified the decision.

In response, Jehan said there was "20% less traffic on the roads during the school holidays". He also said works in St Clement had been planned for more than five years and there had been significant dialogue with parishioners.

He said work on Trinity Road has been delayed because of other works, such as those at Rouge Bouillon, which took priority due to safety concerns.

Constable Andy Jehan said works were inevitable

Jehan said more roadworks were inevitable in the future.

"We've currently got the local electric company doing a big upgrade," he said.

"We have over 500 miles of sewers under the roads, water have a similar level of water pipes, electric will have more.

"Islands Energy will have significant gas under the road; we aren't replacing that as quickly as possible. So there will be more roadworks rather than less roadworks in the future."

When Warr suggested that would not be comforting news to islanders, Jehan said: "You have to upgrade your infrastructure. Leaving it there, and it failing, causes more disruption just as we saw with Trinity Road where we found voids.

"That took far longer to fix than the planned works. Hopefully the public will take comfort from the fact that we're addressing these issues that have been left for far too long".