Dear Sir,

After reading the three articles published in your online version of the paper regarding last Thursday night’s town hall meeting, I felt compelled to respond to Owain Johnston-Barnes’s article that focused on the “Town Cut: cruise ship options under review”.

I went to the town hall meeting specifically to hear more about this particular issue. When the permanent secretary gave his report on the topic, it was barely a footnote. It wasn’t until pointed questions were asked that things became muddier rather than clear. The article is correct as far as it goes, but I feel it doesn’t ferret out any “news”.

Francis Richardson, the permanent secretary, made no declarative statement that the Town Cut project was either going ahead or being scrapped.

He did refer to a 2008 report, which mentioned the Cut wasn’t the only option they looked at. He did explain there were other sites on the outside of the town/harbour that were considered in a 2008 report.

What is troubling is that the report that detailed the widening of Town Cut superseded the 2008 report, as it was from 2011.

And, sadly, there was no information about the study that was done this past June when the Cut was sampled all along the proposed widening boundaries.

The core sampling, in my mind, validated the Government, and our cruise ship partners were still aiming for widening the Cut.

I did come away from the town hall meeting with a sense that this future cruise ship policy will be based on what the three main cruise lines want rather than what is best for the Island, the environment and the residents of St George.

Sincerely,

D. MASTERS