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Construction industry leaders have issued a fresh call to deputies to approve funding for the next stage of the Transforming Education Programme.
With the States due to resume debate on the 2024 Budget today, a decision is expected soon on whether funding for the TEP is approved or not.
When the States broke mid-debate earlier this month, deputies were considering two amendments affecting education.
The first requests that £111m is spent to deliver the new Les Ozouets campus for post 16 education through borrowing. This amendment was brought by the Education, Sport and Culture Committee.
The second amendment involves expanding the total yearly amount raised from corporates through a levy by £5m to support such borrowing. It also seeks authority for P&R to borrow up to £200m to realise the TEP project.
With local constructions firm on tenterhooks waiting to hear if the redevelopment of Les Ozouets campus will go ahead, the Guernsey Building Trades Employers Association (GBTEA), along with the Guernsey Construction Forum (GCF) and the Confederation of Guernsey Industry (CGI) have written to all deputies urging them to make a decision.
The letter - published in full HERE - says that "post-sixteen education in Guernsey is approaching crisis point" and that "uncertainty and lack of investment has significantly compromised the teaching and learning opportunities for our young people".
The GBTEA wrote:
"The only way to reverse this trajectory is to urgently progress the TEP. Not in a year or two, not after another review, not after yet more postponements.
"We plead with you individually and collectively, to take responsibility and find a way of giving the TEP a green light this week, not next month or next year.
"It will take years to repair the damage already done we must not delay any further."
With the current States often split on contentious issues involving those focused on taxation and spending, the GBTEA is urging deputies to "please, put aside personality politics and come together to make this happen".
If the Les Ozouets campus redevelopment is funded work will start soon to demolish it, before groundworks begin prior to building work starting.
All aspects of the construction industry would be involved in the project which would be the largest public education infrastructure project in many decades, far outstripping the size and cost of the Baubigny Schools and Les Beaucamps rebuilds.
The 2024 Budget debate resumes this morning.
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