Alderney States decides not to pursue independent census

Alderney's politicians have chosen not to look into conducting a census.

At their meeting on Wednesday, States members decided by five votes to four that the chief executive should not be instructed to look into it.

Paul Arditti had made the proposal following Guernsey's decision to scrap the census scheduled for 2011.

He said he was disappointed at the decision to reject a census. "They abandoned the census in favour of nothing," said Mr Arditti.

Alderney's Chamber of Commerce had said businesses need more information.

The head of the chamber said recent estimates of the island's population had ranged from 1,600 to 2,300, making planning difficult.

States members are believed to favour a rolling, electronic record of the population.