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Around 30% of Sark’s population crammed into the Island Hall last night to commence the first stage of a long-term community vision, in collaboration with the Prince’s Foundation
The evening began with a brief introduction from Ben Bolgar, a Senior Director at the Foundation, who explained the aims of the meeting and how local perceptions would feed into a wider local sustainability plan for Sark.
Residents were invited to map out their views across various activities, which focused on the natural, social, financial and built aspects of the island.
Post-it notes were placed in columns marked “positives”, “negatives”, and “opportunities” for each of these categories.
The wine and snacks were flowing as residents went table to table documenting their thoughts and enthusiastically discussing their home with one another.
The natural environment, community spirit, and tourist economy came out on top while infrastructure, dilapidated properties, the government, limited public provisions - like pensions and healthcare - and even “tax avoiders” were listed as problems.
There were also fears around an exodus of young people, poor education, and limited opportunities to invest and set up businesses.
Pictured: Resident's mapping out their favourite, and least favourite places around Sark.
The other activity was a large map of Sark, with people asked to place dots all over to demonstrate the qualities of the natural and built environment; red for dislikes, green for likes, and blue for opportunities.
This was the most popular exercise, with the table swarmed and almost inaccessible for two hours.
By the end of the evening, the patterns that emerged on the map were revealing. Every derelict building was plastered in red and blue dots, with dislike also demonstrated for the incinerator at the harbour, the disused vinery, and La Coupée.
One post-it claimed “the Coupée is falling into the sea”, while others called for a new industrial zone to be created on the island’s east coast so all waste and incineration could be moved there, as well as allowing for new opportunities such as a composting area. This would be so - as one resident put it - the scorched cliff face isn’t the “first thing to greet visitors” stepping off the ferry.
Many thought the harbours could be developed, with one post-it saying: “Harbour could be improved with a floating pontoon to increase tourism and allow for bigger boats and more boats."
Pictured: The Seigneur was delighted with the turnout and hopes it's the start of something good for the island.
The Foundation was invited to the island by the Seigneur, Christopher Beaumont, in his capacity as a Director of Sark Property Company.
Mr Beaumont said various development plans for the island have come and gone with little to show for it, such as the 2013 plan. He said it “fell away” due to lack of government impetus, and a lack of clear deliverables within it.
He bemoaned the lack of proper political manifestos across the Channel Islands which he fears leaves communities rudderless and second guessing what will be delivered.
“We need something for politicians to aim for,” he added, and that should be based on “what the public wants”.
But Mr Beaumont argued the report produced by the Foundation will be “difficult to ignore.”
He was therefore “delighted” with the strong turnout in the Island Hall, labelling it “unprecedented”, which he said demonstrates the passion residents have for improving their community.
Pictured: The harbour could become a key part of the report given resident's feedback.
Today, the Foundation and senior Sark stakeholder are discussing the feedback from the meeting, as well as touring the island and key sites identified in the community exercises to form a more objective view.
The charity will collate all the information into a report which will be published this summer, before returning to the island to start drawing up a substantive vision and plan for island in lockstep with residents.
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