New Guernsey education facilities funding plan proposed

The Policy and Resources Committee - including President Lyndon Trott and Vice President Heidi Soulsby - is suggesting funding in stages

Fresh plans to fund new education facilities for overs 16s in Guernsey have been set out.

The States of Guernsey's Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) has put forward an amendment to have funding spent in phases.

The States would be asked to agree £88m funding in the first phase for projects including The Guernsey Institute at Les Ozouets.

The proposal will be voted on following a debate later this week.

Along with The Guernsey Institute plans, the first phase would also give the States the option of moving ahead with the sixth form centre at Les Ozouets.

Funding sources earmarked

In the amendment, P&R said funding for this phase would be sourced through borrowing, using reserves and money earnt through the future sale of the Coutanchez Campus site.

It would also benefit from new corporate taxes that will come in next year.

P&R said £55m for the first phase would be borrowed and the remaining £33m would come from the States's General Revenue Reserve.

The States recently agreed to authorise new borrowing of up to £200m for projects.

Earlier plans to borrow more than £100m for a new post post-16 campus were thrown out in November 2023.

The amendment would also release more land for housing in the future if it is approved, P&R said.

Analysis from John Fernandez, BBC Guernsey political reporter

After just six weeks in the job the new Policy and Resources Committee has produced a rabbit out of the hat in the form of £30m of new tax revenue from higher corporate taxes.

It means - in the committee's view - it can now afford to borrow £55m.

The problem is this is money which at the moment there is no guarantee of existing and on an island where government debt is a dirty word, there is undoubtedly set to be opposition on the lines that this is unfunded borrowing.

Naturally some of those naysayers will be criticised for their opposition because they've long been opposed to education's post-16 campus plans.

But nonetheless, despite P&R's promises these are estimates and estimates in 2024 may not pay the bills in 2026.

'Clear plan'

P&R President Deputy Lyndon Trott said: "We can't continue with the uncertainty around post-16 education, and from the outset of our short time on the Policy and Resources Committee, we felt finding a compromise is an urgent priority.

"That means giving our community - students, parents and teachers - confidence in the future for post-16 education, and a clear plan for how the new facilities they have been promised will be delivered."

Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, President of the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture, said she welcomed the proposals and strategic view being put forward.

She added: "This is an opportunity that the island cannot afford to miss and we are ready to begin constructing the purpose-built facility that our staff, students, adult learners and employers have been promised for so long and which is essential to delivering the skilled workforce our community and economy needs."