Mike Stentiford
How did you first get involved with the National Trust for Jersey?
I came to Jersey in 1958 after I was demobbed from national service in the RAF. I had an interest in wildlife throughout my teenage years, then when I moved
here, the interest bloomed into a bit of a passion. I was instrumental in starting the Jersey Conservation Volunteers, and in starting up the Jersey Walking Group. Eventually, I became an interpretation and education officer for the environment department. That was in 1991, then I retired in 2000 and have since become
quite heavily involved with the National Trust – as vice president of the National Trust for Jersey, chairman of the Coastline Campaign and chairman of the
Lands Committee.
What is the Coastline Campaign and what does it hope to achieve?
It’s a public campaign to protect and preserve areas of Jersey’s coastline that the National Trust for Jersey launched in March last year because, despite having improved planning control, Jersey’s coastline is still very vulnerable to inappropriate development. We’re aiming to restore and maintain the coastline and to protect coastal archaeology. We’ve also pledged that any land donated or acquired by the National Trust on behalf of the campaign will be treated as inalienable, so it can’t be sold or mortgaged at any point in the future.
How has the campaign progressed so far?
In our first year, we were concentrating very much on Jersey’s north coast. Since the campaign’s launch, the trust has acquired seven pieces of north coast land – four of these were gifts, two were acquisitions and one was gained from a management agreement with Jersey Water. Our latest piece of excellent news is that the Prince of Wales has accepted an invitation to become our patron – and champion of the campaign – for the next five years, which has been a fabulous start to 2007.
Why are you focusing on the north coast in particular?
Mainly because the trust already owns lots of little pockets of land there. We’ve been offered small sections of the south and east, but the main problem with that side of the island, and the east coast in particular, is that it’s already overdeveloped – it’s just houses all the way. The north and the west coast, on the other hand, are almost pristine – there’s very little development and the whole point of the campaign is to put a stamp on it so that it can remain that way. Once you start eating into any part of the coastal region, it’s just the thin end of the wedge and it’s suddenly open season.
Do you have a favourite area?
I think the fact it’s difficult to pick a spot is indicative of how beautiful it all is, every inch of it. With regards to a specific area, I think it would have to be a circular walk that stretches along the east coast, by St Catherine’s. I’ve been taking people along this route for 15 years. You start off looking out towards the Normandy coast, over Jersey’s offshore reef, before heading inland along typical twisty Jersey lanes, out into the largest open woodland on the island. It packs a lot into a three-kilometre walk, giving you a piece of everything.
What are your main concerns for the coastline’s future?
Plémont is our real concern. It’s a dramatic headland on Jersey’s northwest coast and is the gateway to 22 kilometres of north coast footpaths. Unfortunately, it’s blighted by an empty, abandoned, dilapidated eyesore that, in the heady days of popular tourism, functioned as the Plémont Holiday Camp. Developers now want to dismantle this awful building, which is good news, but then to replace it with 34 expensive houses and gardens, which is really bad news. Apart from the wild beauty of this part of the coast, the proposed building development would be within a stone’s throw of the UK’s most southerly colony of Atlantic puffins.
What are you doing to protect it?
In September last year, the National Trust for Jersey launched a petition against any development at Plémont. It was launched online, with full-page advertisements in the local press and volunteers collecting signatures in local supermarkets. It proved to be remarkably successful, and we collected more than 10,000 signatures in just four weeks. The trust believes that if development is granted, Jersey’s environmental integrity – or indeed the lack of it – would be seriously questioned. We’re asking that the site be purchased by the States of Jersey, returned to its natural wild state and left in its entirety to the people of Jersey. If this happens, the trust and its lands team will happily take on the responsibility of caring for and managing the entire headland for the benefit of future generations. The petition has been given to our chief minister in the States of Jersey and we’re currently awaiting a decision from local government.
For further information about Jersey, visit www.jersey.com
April 2007
I came to Jersey in 1958 after I was demobbed from national service in the RAF. I had an interest in wildlife throughout my teenage years, then when I moved
here, the interest bloomed into a bit of a passion. I was instrumental in starting the Jersey Conservation Volunteers, and in starting up the Jersey Walking Group. Eventually, I became an interpretation and education officer for the environment department. That was in 1991, then I retired in 2000 and have since become
quite heavily involved with the National Trust – as vice president of the National Trust for Jersey, chairman of the Coastline Campaign and chairman of the
Lands Committee.
What is the Coastline Campaign and what does it hope to achieve?
It’s a public campaign to protect and preserve areas of Jersey’s coastline that the National Trust for Jersey launched in March last year because, despite having improved planning control, Jersey’s coastline is still very vulnerable to inappropriate development. We’re aiming to restore and maintain the coastline and to protect coastal archaeology. We’ve also pledged that any land donated or acquired by the National Trust on behalf of the campaign will be treated as inalienable, so it can’t be sold or mortgaged at any point in the future.
How has the campaign progressed so far?
In our first year, we were concentrating very much on Jersey’s north coast. Since the campaign’s launch, the trust has acquired seven pieces of north coast land – four of these were gifts, two were acquisitions and one was gained from a management agreement with Jersey Water. Our latest piece of excellent news is that the Prince of Wales has accepted an invitation to become our patron – and champion of the campaign – for the next five years, which has been a fabulous start to 2007.
Why are you focusing on the north coast in particular?
Mainly because the trust already owns lots of little pockets of land there. We’ve been offered small sections of the south and east, but the main problem with that side of the island, and the east coast in particular, is that it’s already overdeveloped – it’s just houses all the way. The north and the west coast, on the other hand, are almost pristine – there’s very little development and the whole point of the campaign is to put a stamp on it so that it can remain that way. Once you start eating into any part of the coastal region, it’s just the thin end of the wedge and it’s suddenly open season.
Do you have a favourite area?
I think the fact it’s difficult to pick a spot is indicative of how beautiful it all is, every inch of it. With regards to a specific area, I think it would have to be a circular walk that stretches along the east coast, by St Catherine’s. I’ve been taking people along this route for 15 years. You start off looking out towards the Normandy coast, over Jersey’s offshore reef, before heading inland along typical twisty Jersey lanes, out into the largest open woodland on the island. It packs a lot into a three-kilometre walk, giving you a piece of everything.
What are your main concerns for the coastline’s future?
Plémont is our real concern. It’s a dramatic headland on Jersey’s northwest coast and is the gateway to 22 kilometres of north coast footpaths. Unfortunately, it’s blighted by an empty, abandoned, dilapidated eyesore that, in the heady days of popular tourism, functioned as the Plémont Holiday Camp. Developers now want to dismantle this awful building, which is good news, but then to replace it with 34 expensive houses and gardens, which is really bad news. Apart from the wild beauty of this part of the coast, the proposed building development would be within a stone’s throw of the UK’s most southerly colony of Atlantic puffins.
What are you doing to protect it?
In September last year, the National Trust for Jersey launched a petition against any development at Plémont. It was launched online, with full-page advertisements in the local press and volunteers collecting signatures in local supermarkets. It proved to be remarkably successful, and we collected more than 10,000 signatures in just four weeks. The trust believes that if development is granted, Jersey’s environmental integrity – or indeed the lack of it – would be seriously questioned. We’re asking that the site be purchased by the States of Jersey, returned to its natural wild state and left in its entirety to the people of Jersey. If this happens, the trust and its lands team will happily take on the responsibility of caring for and managing the entire headland for the benefit of future generations. The petition has been given to our chief minister in the States of Jersey and we’re currently awaiting a decision from local government.
For further information about Jersey, visit www.jersey.com
April 2007
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