JEP Saturday.
JERSEY should not think about increasing its population to 100,000 as the Island cannot cope with the amount of people it already has, a local charity has warned.
Autism Jersey has hit back at Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur’s suggestion that the Island could cope with another 10,000 people.
‘That is only if they do not have a disability,’ said the charity’s chief executive Philip Le Claire, who is urging the States to invest in the Island’s vulnerable and their families.
This month the charity was told that the budget for psychology services was to be slashed by the Health department.
http://www.thisisjersey.com/2009/02/14/100000-jersey-cannot-cope-now-warns-charity/Continued from the hard copy, Sorry, I feel this is important as charities rarely complain.
Quote:-
We have been hearing real horror stories since the JEP ran the article on Saturday…….It is quite frightening to hear the number of families that are being let down by our already failing States departments.
So to see our Chief Minister stand up and say that Jersey could accommodate a population of another some 10,000 people is quite simply staggering………………
He added we have families that are being severely and consistently let down by the system, and we are told that the main reason for the lack of appropriate service is a shortfall in funding. We are told that there simply isn't enough to go round now. I have to ask myself the question, how on earth will taking in another 10,000 mouths to feed make it go even further, unless we are prepared to take it out of our treasury chest and pay the bills long over due.
Philip Le Claire, Autism Jersey.
BB
