States spend £100k on beach cafe eviction fees

About £100,000 has been spent by Guernsey States on legal fees trying to evict the tenants of the Fermain Beach Cafe, it has been revealed.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request was submitted to the States asking Policy & Resources (P&R) to confirm the current legal fees to date.

An online petition was started and signed by more than 2,000 people in April 2024 to keep the current tenants in place and to stop any future development at the site after they lost the tender process.

The case remains ongoing and P&R said it expected "further costs" would be spent but hopefully "to a minimum".

It added: "It is standard practice to engage external lawyers when there is not sufficient capacity within the Law Officers.

"This ensures that matters are handled efficiently and without delay."

In April 2024, the States said the lease tender process for the site had been fair and the tenant's proposals to carry out improvements to the site since 2009 had not been carried out.

Having raised the issue with P&R, Deputy Mark Helyar said he would like to see the matter come to an end soon.

He said: "I would just like to see a political intervention and a step-in for some negotiation and mediation so that it can be brought to a close.

"We've got a new committee [since the general election], so a fresh pair of eyes, hopefully it might lead to a more satisfactory resolution."

The States Property Unit reiterated that a formal tender process had been run for the site and the party that submitted the best bid would be selected.

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