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Officials defend resilience amid shortage fears

Jenny MullinJersey
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Richard Blake, Jersey's deputy emergency planning officer said there was no need for additional emergency exercises

Authorities have insisted Jersey is well prepared for any future crises, amid concerns about potential shortages of supplies caused by the Iran war.

The island's deputy emergency planning officer said the public should "take some reassurance and comfort" Jersey was in a "much stronger position" than it had been prior to the Covid pandemic.

Jersey Electricity said that the island could cope "indefinitely", should supply lines from France fail.

It comes after a panel of backbench politicians said more emergency exercises should be conducted, while separately, a former military strategist claimed in an open letter officials needed to "go the extra mile" to boost public confidence.

'Independent review'

In an open letter to Jersey's Chief Minister Deputy Lyndon Farnham, retired Brigadier Nigel Hall said resources including fuel, food, transport and critical infrastructure needed to be prepared for worst-case scenarios.

"My advice to you and to every States Member is to go the extra mile now to ensure the safety of the island and instil confidence across the population," he said.

"You should authorise a McKinsey-grade top-level external consultancy quick stress-test review of government resilience processes."

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Deputy Lyndon Farnham responded directly to Brig Hall's open letter

In response, Farnham said the conclusions overstated "both the risks facing Jersey and the shortcomings of current preparedness".

He said: "Jersey will continue to strengthen its resilience.

"Constructive challenge has an important role to play, but it must be grounded in balanced analysis, recognition of existing capability, and a clear focus on what will genuinely enhance preparedness."

'Much stronger position'

Governments around the world have been drawing up plans to deal with the prospect of shortages resulting from disruption to oil and gas shipments through the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway, since the outbreak of war on 28 February.

Meanwhile, Jersey's government has also been reflecting on its handling of the Covid pandemic, to ensure that it can respond to any similar crises in the future.

"We are very well prepared in my opinion," said Jersey's deputy emergency planning officer, Richard Blake.

"The public need to take some reassurance and comfort that we are much more prepared and in a much stronger position this time than we were pre-Covid."

In response to calls from the Public Accounts Committee for more emergency exercises to be conducted, he said: "In my opinion we're already doing that, we've already exercised a pandemic scenario twice within the last 12 months."

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Mark Preece insisted the Jersey Electricity Company would be able to "keep the lights on" even if power links to the European mainland were to fail

"We've got multi layers of resilience built into our approach," said Mark Preece, Jersey Electricity's chief operating officer, who pointed out there were three separate power cables linking the island with France.

"We're able to operate the network safely with the loss of any of those cables at any time - so relying on two or even one cable - and should there be any problems there, then we've always got the backup protection of the power station at La Collette to provide additional resilience."

The island receives 95% of its electricity from France, but Preece said it would still have resources even if Jersey became cut off from the mainland supplies.

He said: "Effectively we can last quite indefinitely because of course we've got the fuel stocks down at La Collette and we can continue to refuel those tanks to maintain the endurance that we need to to keep the lights on."

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Lynne Capie said there was always more organisations could do to improve cyber security measures

Away from concerns about fuel and electricity, digital expert Lynne Capie said it was important people remained alert to cyber security implications of the conflict in the Middle East.

"I would say nobody is future-proofed, but it's incumbent on all of us to protect our organisations by ensuring that every single person understands the role and responsibilities that they have to keep that organisation secure," she said.

"And I would say that the threat level is global, but that will have a local impact and I think that when it comes to Jersey cyber resilience, there's always more that we can do."

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