2 Jan 01- We all knew that the latter part of the year was wet, but the met office have confirmed that it was the wettest year in Guernsey since 1960. In all 1,054.1mm of rain fell in 2000.

Good News in 2001 budget re property

2 Jan 01 With immediate effect, the cost of buying property in Guernsey which has traditionally quite high, has been reduced following the States decision in December to reduce Document Duty by 0.5%. They also resolved to phase out Conge although this will take some time to do as an alternative tax needs to be decided upon. This may be in the form of higher Occupier rates which are very low compared to for example, the UK. See our Property page.

10 Jan 01-  An excavation at La Route de Carteret which started in 1998, has revealed two small but sophisticated arrow heads, thought to be at least 6,000 years old. To find two in one week has been described as amazing. One is a leaf point shape. They will go on display in the summer along with other material from the site, which will shortly be built on. 

26 Jan 01- The Housing Authority have unveiled proposals to recommend to the States, a setting up of a Housing Association. This follows news that the average local market house price is now in excess of £200,000 and therefore out of reach of many people. 

21 Feb 01- The States traffic Committee have unveiled a major re-vamp of the island's bus service which is run by Island Coachways supported by public funds. In an effort to get commuters and tourists back on the buses, more frequent services are being added and fares slashed to 50p. A Metro style Route Map will shortly be circulated to all households. The changes take effect from 12 March 2001.

21 Feb 01 - Following the outbreak of Foot & Mouth disease in cattle in the UK,  Guernsey in common with the other Channel Islands, have banned the import of all meat and un-pasteurised dairy products, hay & straw with immediate effect. The last major outbreak in the UK in 1967 affected the islands and so every precaution is being taken at this early stage. All passengers arriving by boat and plane are having to walk through disinfectant and car wheels are being sprayed. Movement of animals including horses is being restricted voluntarily. The risk to humans in minimal.

28 Feb 01- In a landmark decision, the States approved the principle of allowing Housing Associations to be established on the island to speed up and hopefully at lower cost, the building of desperately needed housing for the less well off. Many thought that this was more than 20 years overdue. Firm proposals are expected from the Housing Authority by the end of the summer.

1 Mar 01- The States approved overwhelmingly to bring in a Care for the elderly tax through the Social Insurance scheme. It was described as a great victory for the caring aspect of the island. Islanders will have to pay 1.4% or earnings (up to £7 per week more) to cover the cost of residential care. The overall contribution rate will still be lower than elsewhere at 11.3%. The Jersey rate id 12%, UK 22.2% and France 48.29%.

8 Mar 01- The island's leisure centre is to undergo a major re-furbishment if the States approve costing £9m. The centre is 25 years old and now quite dated in some areas. More details

19 Mar 01 - The Harwood Review Panel have published firm recommendations on the future structure of the States. It favours a cabinet style government of 12 ministers, a reduction in States members from 57 to 42 and just six electoral districts instead of the current parish based districts. Members would also be paid £25,000 to £30,000 p.a. Further details 

29 Mar 01 - The States today approved the sale of a majority shareholding in GT. This is being done to attract a world class telecoms player, rather than a way to raise cash. A&F estimate that it will take 6 months to a year to finalise a deal. The Electricity Board's fibre optic links to France will be transferred to a new States Trading Company.

5 Apr 01- The organising committees of the South, West and North Shows have reluctantly announced that the shows have been cancelled as part of the precautionary measures to prevent the spread of Foot & Mouth disease. Apart from the War years, this is the first time the North Show will not be held since 1921.

2 May 01 - On 12th July, the Queen and HRH Prince Philip will visit the Bailiwick. Following an official reception at Beau Sejour, the Queen will open the 201 Squadron museum, lunch with the Lt-Governor, travel to Alderney to open the extension to St Anne's school, before moving on to Sark with the Duke for a tea party at La Seigneurie. Back in Guernsey, she will unveil the Vale Millennium stone. Finally she will have dinner with States members at Beau Sejour. The next day they  travel to Jersey.

7 May 01 - In the annual inter-insular football competition, the Norman Piette Muratti Vase, Guernsey this year got their most convincing win in ten years, with the final score 4-1. At half time they were 1-0 up. Man of the match was Guernseyman Matt Falla who scored two goals and was denied a third when his penalty shot was saved. The Guernsey Ladies team won 2-1, their second successive win.

10 May 01 - The Education Council's plans to revolutionise education in Guernsey were heavily defeated by an amendment from Dep Mike Torode. They voted by 30 to 18 to retain the Grammar School sixth form, develop the College of F.E. and to build three new High Schools. The leaving age will be increased to 16 by 2008/9.

5 Jun 01 - At the start of June the number of unemployed was just 51 people, (0.15% of the working population). This is the lowest figure since 1988

6 Aug 01 - Pressure is mounting from the Public sector to introduce a Guernsey salary weighting due to the high cost of living, particularly housing costs. The Prison Officers pushed hard for this but had to accept a Tribunal award of 3% back dated to July 1999. The annual wage bill for the 5,000 public sector employees in 2000 was £100m. If a London style weighting of around £1,359 per annum were to be introduced, this would add another £7m to the annual wage bill. The London weighting ranges from £1,359 to £2,556 p.a.

1 Oct 01- The Guernsey Post Office and Guernsey Telecoms became trading companies today following the States decision last month to release them from direct political control. Both will be regulated by the Office of Utility Regulation. In the case of Telecoms, the States still hope that a Telecom company will take a stake in the company in order to gain economies of scale.

9 Nov 01- The Channel Islands enjoyed their warmest October on record with the highs of 21C and night time temperatures not dropping below 16C. Overall the average temperature for the month recorded in Guernsey was 15.2C which was 2.6C higher than the long term average between 1971 to 2000.

14 Dec 01 -  The States of Guernsey have voted 33-14 to delay any plans to extend the runway until further investigations had taken place, within the next ten to twelve months. The Board of Admin pointed out that there are 6 airports out of 200 in Europe which also have runways of less than 1,700 metres.

Dec 01  - Average Guernsey local market house prices have risen by a staggering 27% in one year according to the States Economic & Statistics Unit. They started the year at just over £200,000 and from July to December rose from £210,000 to £295,000. See Graph