BBC Radio Jersey

Dogs and drones have been banned from an offshore reef to protect nesting and breeding birds from being disturbed by residents and visitors.

Jersey's Environment Minister John Young said signs had been placed on the Ecrehous following a meeting between his officers, residents and representatives from St Martin's Honorary Police and the study group the Societe Jersiaise.

Deputy Young said he accepted it was difficult to ensure wildlife was protected without employing a summer-time warden on the reef, but it came down to resources.

He said setting up a webcam on the reef would be very expensive and, currently, the States' marine resources team visited the area as often as it could.

The latest test results for the island show no active cases in the island.

The number had dropped to just two on Monday.

The Government of Jersey said there had been only one positive test result in the last seven days.

A statement said: "All the recently discovered active cases were identified through the proactive screening of essential workers, and all have involved people showing no symptoms."

Islanders are reminded to continue following the latest public health guidance including good hygiene and physical distancing.

Health and Social Services Minister Richard Renouf described the news as "a significant milestone" and paid tribute to islanders for "flatlining the curve by working together and following public health advice".

A total of 10,897 Islanders have been tested with 319 confirmed cases in the island and 415 people awaiting test results.

BBC Radio Jersey

Anyone with private CCTV cameras on their property is being reminded to ensure their system complied with Jersey's data protection laws.

Information Commissioner Anne King said such systems could be very intrusive on people's privacy, there were various laws governing how they should be used, and they should only be installed as a last resort.

She said that an increasing number of people had contacted her office recently, asking about the implications of setting up a network on their property.

Mrs King said if a network captured images from outside the owner's home - for example, a neighbouring property or public areas - then people had to comply with regulations, external.

One of them says owners must have clear signs explaining why they are filming, and their contact details.

Image source, Getty Images

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News Online

Jersey's chief minister has said there will be "consequences" for the island's connectivity if it does not reopen its borders on 3 July.

Senator John Le Fondre said the Ports of Jersey had advised the States on the "probability" of losing travel operators if there was a delay.

He added that "the financial pressures" on airlines would force them to "give their priorities where they know they have certainty".

When questioned Senator Fondre said he could not provide "evidence" from airlines or ferry operators to suggest they would pull out.

One of the proposed amendments to the border reopening plan going before the States is for it to be delayed until 10 July.

Freddie Miller
BBC Jersey political reporter

A decision on reopening Jersey's borders will not be made on Tuesday, it has been confirmed.

Instead States members will begin debating the matter on Wednesday morning, at the earliest.

Topics are usually debated during a sitting in the order they were formally proposed - and politicians have agreed to stick to this principle, meaning the borders debate remains the final item on the agenda.

For the debate to go ahead on Wednesday, States Members will first have to agree to it happening at all - as the proposals were announced too late to be automatically placed on this week's order paper.

The decision on allowing the debate to begin is due to be made on Tuesday afternoon.

Politicians will also be asked to agree to discuss two amendments to ministers' proposals to open the borders on Friday.

One would force people entering the island to speak to the government's contact tracing team every day for two weeks after arriving in Jersey.

The other would see the opening of the borders delayed a week - until 10 June - and arriving passengers forced to isolate until they get a negative coronavirus test result.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News Online

Jersey's electoral system acts as "barrier" to gender equality within the States Assembly, Deputy Louise Doublet has said.

The Deputy of St Saviour, who is a representative of the Jersey Community Relations Trust, was responding to a question from Deputy Montford Tadier who proposed the idea of introducing quotas for women during elections.

He suggested half of all seats could be reserved for women.

Deputy Doublet said: "Reform of our electoral system is needed because the current system is indeed a barrier to having a diverse assembly which adequately represents the population."

At present there are 14 elected States members who are female, and 35 who are male.

Deputy Doublet said the responsibility to promote diversity within parliament also laid with members, and urged them to seek out those "who are perhaps a bit different to yourselves" while mentoring future politicians.

BBC Radio Jersey

Jersey's States is expected to debate the government's long-awaited population policy in November, the chief minister has said.

Senator John Le Fondre said work on the plan - which had been earmarked for a debate this month - had been delayed by Covid-19.

He said ministers still wanted to introduce controls that would significantly slow the growth of the island's population.

The latest figures have estimated there were almost 108,000 people living in the island at the end of 2019.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News Online

Jersey's Health Minister has said there are currently no plans to offer antibody tests to all islanders during the coronavirus pandemic.

Deputy Richard Renouf said 100,000 antibody kits in the island were being used for "statistical purposes" and "not to arrive at a diagnosis" for individuals.

An antibody test detects if a person has had the virus, but cannot tell if the individual has developed immunity.

Deputy Renouf said: "I don't believe there is a plan at present to test everybody in the island.

"That may change as the situation moves on, but this is constantly under review by STAC."

He added the government would continue to focus on testing throughout July.

BBC Radio Jersey

Jersey's treasury minister said charging Goods and Services Tax (GST) on online shopping worth £135 pounds, instead of the current £240 will help local shops.

Treasury Minister Susie Pinel is introducing the new threshold in October, after initially saying it would be delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Deputy Pinel said the government wants to encourage islanders to shop locally in the run up to Christmas.

But Carl Walker, the head of the shoppers rights group the Jersey Consumer Council, argued people are suffering financially and the States should look at different ways to help retailers.

He argued moves like scrapping weekend parking charges or making bus journeys into St Helier free on a weekend could help.

Mr Walker added: "Why don't we perhaps be less restrictive on the opening hours on a Sunday.

"There's all sorts of different ways that they can try and get more people into town:"

BBC Radio Jersey

A campaigner in Jersey has called for De La Salle College to revoke its links to Cecil Rhodes.

The independent school in St Saviour has named its house system after four historical explorers, and Cecil Rhodes is one of them. He spent some of his childhood in Jersey.

Critics have argued that he represented the oppression of black people in Africa.

Lesley Katsande, from Black Lives Matter Jersey, said the school did not acknowledge some of the elements of his past and visitors would find "some information left out" about him.

She said: "What does that say about our education system and what does that say about De La Salle?"

Head teacher Jason Turner said Rhodes' name was chosen because he left his fortune to fund educational scholarships, regardless of ethnicity.

He added the school was reviewing whether the Rhodes House name was appropriate in the 21st Century.

Image source, De La Salle College

Oriel College in Oxford said earlier this month it wanted to take down a controversial statue it had of Rhodes.

Jersey Evening Post

Hundreds of migrant workers have returned to their home countries as a result of the disruption and far-reaching health and economic impacts of Covid-19, external, it has emerged.

BBC Radio Jersey

A Jersey senator wants more safety measures put in place before allowing ferries and aircraft into the island.

Senator Kristina Moore said she wanted to delay the reopening of the island's borders by a week, to work with other countries that were considered safe, and to have designated transport for people arriving in the island.

States members are due debate plans on Tuesday to allow people to travel in and out of Jersey from Friday.

Under the plans, people arriving in Jersey will have the option of being tested at the border, or self-isolating for 14 days.

If the proposals by Mrs Moore, who leads the Scrutiny Liaison Committee, were approved, it would mean postponing the reopening until 10 July, allowing an extra week to see how the virus affected the UK since the easing of its lockdown restrictions.

Her committee said it wanted to hear more thoughts from islanders about the matter, particularly from people who were vulnerable to the disease and felt they have to isolate again once borders opened.

However, the island's medical director for health and community services has said that if Jersey did not open for business again soon, then its ability to care for people properly could suffer.

Patrick Armstrong said the island's health system was funded by the success of its economy and, if that was not allowed to work properly again, then there will be less money to spend on the health service.

Four executives from a Jersey care home group are being investigated by Isle of Man Police for breaking self-isolation rules.

They breached the terms of their self-isolation rules by having a "meal in a public place", Chief Minister Howard Quayle said.

The group was only supposed to leave their hotel to go to work, under the rules they had been permitted to enter the island.

He confirmed the four people had been allowed to travel to the Isle of Man on 17 June, as their company was expanding the size of an existing home and installing a new manager there.

BBC Radio Jersey

Twelve charitable funders have given £600,000 in emergency funds to help Jersey's community during the coronavirus crisis.

The Jersey Funders Group said its donation would be prioritising charities that worked on the front line by helping islanders with food or housing.

It said it also has given funding to charities that had seen rise in demand during the pandemic, supporting people's mental health, giving debt advice or bereavement counselling.

The number of active cases of Covid-19 in Jersey has fallen from five to two.

The drop was predicted by Dr Ivan Muscat, the island's deputy medical officer of health, and follows the first weekend the bulletins have not been published since the first case was reported in the island.

BBC Radio Jersey

Plans to make people in Jersey pay GST on more goods bought online are "unimaginative", a shoppers' rights group has said.

People will be charged GST [Goods and Service Tax] on goods bought online at a lower threshold from 1 October. The amount to spend in order to be charged the extra 5% is to be reduced from £240 to £135.

Announcing the change, Treasury Minister Susie Pinel said the change to the "de minimis" GST level was because it would "enable on-island business to compete more fairly with off-Island retailers, supporting our local economy" after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Carl Walker, of the Jersey Consumer Council, said the change would only hurt people on lower incomes, and was not enough to push people back to island shops.

He said ministers needed to come up with something more creative to encourage people to shop less online and use local retailers.

BBC Radio Jersey

Police are appealing for information after a car did not stop after hitting a dog in Jersey on Saturday.

Officers said the crash was on the lower section of Le Mont es Croix, just up from St Brelade’s Church, at about 19:00, when two pedestrians were walking up the hill with three dogs on leads.

Police said they were told a navy blue coloured Ford Fiesta was travelling down the hill when it drove over one of the dogs. The dog died a short time later.

BBC Radio Jersey

Four Jersey care home workers who went to the Isle of Man earlier this month for work are now under investigation by local police.

They allegedly breached quarantine rules by going to a restaurant when they should have been self-isolating.

The group arrived in the Isle of Man after getting a certificate which meant they were exempt from self-isolation - but only under strict guidelines. This means they were required to only go to their place of work and straight back to their accommodation.

Isle of Man Chief Minister Howard Quayle said essential workers still had to comply with quarantine rules, even if they were exempt from its compulsory 14-day isolation period.

The Government of Jersey says tests for coronavirus are still being processed by its lab and contact tracing will go ahead if there’s a positive test, after it has stopped publishing its updates on the testing at weekends.

Earlier this month the Sunday updates ended and from this weekend they will not be published on a Saturday either.

A spokesman said: "This will be kept under review and weekend reporting will resume if necessary."

He said of the move: "This is so the small team that compiles the figures can resume Monday-Friday working while the daily changes remain at such a low level."

On Friday the number of active cases of the virus was five and Dr Ivan Muscat, deputy medical officer of health, said he expected the number to drop to maybe as low as two on Saturday.

BBC Radio Jersey

Relaxing Jersey's travel laws will not result in a significant increase in cases of coronavirus in the island, the island's medical officer of health has said.

Dr Susan Turnbull said there was a low rate of infection in the UK and the chances of infected people getting to Jersey were very small.

She added that, with new tests coupled with facilities to track and trace anyone who could be affected, she believed relaxing the island's borders would be safe.

Image source, Government of Jersey