A total of 119 candidates are standing in Guernsey's first island-wide election on 7 October.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Two senior committees in Sark have said contingency plans are in place if residents are cut off from the power grid.

Sark Electricity said it was being forced to remove power supplies from 19 properties after a local home-owner asked the company to remove cables from his land.

A joint statement from the Policy and Finance, and Medical and Emergency committees said a "robust contingency plan" was is in place if the households lost their power.

They say they're ready to implement their plan at short notice but hope an amicable agreement between landowner Sebastien Moerman and Sark Electricity can be worked out.

The Price Control Commissioner Anthony White, who investigates the price of electricity in Sark, said several residents had been in touch with him over the issue.

He described the situation as "unneccessary and avoidable" after he said Sark Electricity did not explore suggested solutions.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Preparations are under way for the Butterfield half marathon in Guernsey on Sunday.

The 20th anniversary of the event should have been held on Fathers' Day in June but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nearly 700 people have signed up for the 13.1 mile (21km) race, which ends at the Crown Pier in St Peter Port.

Athletes from the Isle of Man have also been welcomed to join the race as part of the air bridge between the two regions.

Louise Perrio, Guernsey Athletics' endurance director, said islanders have one last chance to sign up for the race between 12:00 and 14:00 BST on Friday at the Footes Lane athletics track clubhouse.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Guernsey's States-owned airline Aurigny has delayed adding its broader range of services to the UK until mid-October.

Instead it's offering more flights to its lifeline route to Southampton throughout the week.

This means from the 21 September, there will be double daily services on the route throughout the week, with Saturday and Sunday flights operating for the first time since lockdown began.

Image source, Jonathan Le Ray

Chief executive of Aurigny Mark Darby said the impact of Covid-19 on the operator over the past six months has been "catastrophic".

He added besides the Isle of Man route there have been about 250,000 fewer passengers this summer than in the same period last year, and the airline has had to be agile in making frequent changes to its schedule, in response to developing news.

BBC Radio Guernsey

A Sark resident living in one of the 19 homes affected by the cut of electric power said it's come as a bolt out of the blue.

John Robinson said these services are important and islanders are worried.

Sark Electricity said it’s being forced to remove power supplies from several properties in the north of the island after a dispute with a local landlord over rights to run cables over privately-owned land.

Sebastien Moerman claims the operator's equipment, which runs through his property, is dangerous and he only took legal action after the company refused to agree to his requests to remove it.

Alan Jackson, the director of Sark Electricity, described it as an unreasonable request that will leave other residents permanently disconnected from the grid.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

The winners of the annual Floral Guernsey competition have been announced.

The Last Post, in St Andrew, won the Best Floral Display award, with the parish of St Saviour claiming the newly introduced Lockdown award.

St Julian's Pier in St Peter Port took first place in the themed category, which celebrated 75 years of Liberation this year.

A total of 93 volunteers and supporters from Guernsey attended the awards ceremony at Les Cotils on Thursday.

John Woodward and Dave Stuart judged and presented the awards.

Herm was also able to secure wins in the Most Improved category, Best New Project, and the Norma Ozanne Schools Award.

Image source, Caroline Allisette

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

Aurigny has announced it will no longer be running flights to Manchester due to low demand during the pandemic.

The Guernsey States-owned airline said it had introduced the route based on its popularity in a public survey, but found the flights were only half-full when launched.

Bosses said it was "not financially viable" to continue a route "with loads of 28% and lower", but would continue to fly to Southampton and Guernsey.

As a result the airline said it would be offering double daily services to Southampton on weekdays, and would be providing Saturday and Sunday services from 21 September.

The changes accompany a delay in a "wider range of services" until 12 October, Aurigny said, after the States announced a relaxation of border controls would not happen until October at the earliest.

Chief Executive Mark Darby said: "Passenger numbers are significantly down.

"Unfortunately, it’s just not commercially viable to run the more comprehensive schedule that we had planned until demand increases or the self-isolation requirement period is reduced, and both are inevitably interconnected."

Aurigny has launched a 'Book with Confidence' initiative that will provide customers with a travel voucher if they need to cancel for any reason for flights in 2020 and 2021 booked before the end of March 2021.

People arriving in Guernsey from Portugal, unless they arrive from Madeira, will have to self-isolate for two weeks.

The States has moved the nation to Group A in its three-tiered classification of countries, external, based on their coronavirus infection rates.

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were also moved to Group A earlier in the week, requiring the full 14-day quarantine.

Madeira remains in Group B, alongside the other UK nations and France, which allows arrivals to leave quarantine if they test negative for the virus after a week.

Iceland, Jamaica and are currently on the Group B watchlist, meaning they could move to Group A soon.

BBC Radio Jersey

The Channel Islands Co-op is exploring how it could reintroduce its double dividend scheme.

The supermarket dropped the stamps, which give customers money back on purchases, in April to fund extra pay for key workers, and protect against the spread of coronavirus.

The 4p and £1 stamps, issued on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, were replaced, external by a 1% added to members' accounts every time they shopped.

Chief operating officer Mark Cox said the company was conducting research into how customers felt about reintroducing the scheme.

He said there were concerns the "lick and stick" aspect of the stamps was still a risk amid the coronavirus pandemic.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Sark Electricity claims a number of islanders in Sark will be cut off from the island's power grid after legal action was lodged against them.

The operator has been ordered to remove its infrastructure that powers 19 homes from one islander's plot of land.

Sark Electricity had intended to fight the move in court but bosses say it could not afford to fight the case.

The director of Sark Electricity Alan Jackson says he's called on Chief Pleas to intervene, but to no avail.

Chief Pleas told the BBC it would not comment on matters until it holds a meeting on the issue.

BBC Radio Guernsey

The Islands Energy Group, based in Guernsey, have said gas prices in the island will increase by 4.7% from 1 October.

The chief executive officer of the IEG David Cruddace said the company had no choice after being hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said some of their key workers had been working throughout lockdown on reduced wages as part of cost cutting.

"We don't take this decision lightly, but given the current situation we really have no choice," Mr Cruddace said.

BBC Radio Guernsey

The number of roadworks in Guernsey this summer is up a fifth on the same period last year.

Traffic and Highway Services said in many cases, the works were essential to the island's infrastructure.

It said the Coronavirus pandemic and the first four phases of lockdown created a backlog of roadworks as contractors were unable to work in the spring because of the need for social distancing.

It also said it had a policy that roadworks in the vicinity of schools must take place during the holidays to ease disruption.

As lockdown coincided with the Easter holidays, the backlog contained work around schools that instead took place in the summer holidays.

BBC Radio Guernsey

States officers are continuing to investigate a spate of deaths of birds of prey after a fifth bird was found dead in Guernsey.

Officials said the latest, a buzzard, was found with pesticide in its digestive system after it consumed a pigeon laden with the poison.

A number of local wildlife organisations and individuals have contributed to a financial reward for information about the deaths, which now stands at £16,000.

Twenty eight more candidates have put their names forward to stand for the 2020 general election.

This takes the number of candidates for Guernsey's first island-wide election to 77 so far, after 49 registered on Tuesday

Nominations close at 16:00 on Friday, 4 September.

The vote for 38 seats in the States of Guernsey will take place on 7 October with advance polling days on the 3, 4 and 6.

Details of how to stand are available on the Election 2020 website., external

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

Alderney will allow some travellers to leave quarantine after a week if they return a negative coronavirus result.

The island said it would be abiding by the Bailiwick of Guernsey's travel rules under phase 5b of its lockdown exit strategy, external, including the categorisation of countries into Groups A, B and C based on their risk.

Visitors arriving in Guernsey for onward travel to Alderney will be provided with a form to complete before they land, which will ask them to list the countries they have visited in the previous seven days.

This form, along with a form of identification, must be presented to a Guernsey Border Agency representative, after which passengers will be able to continue their journey onwards.

Arrivals in Alderney will be required to travel directly from the airport or harbour to their designated self-isolating address and remain there for seven days, until they return a negative result from a test on day-seven.

They will be subject to a further seven-day period of "passive follow up" upon their release.

All travellers will still be given the option to isolate for 14 days without a test.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

The telecom provider Sure has been fined £80,000 for data breaches in last year's directory.

The Office of the Data Protection Authority took action after Sure told the regulator there had been a "small number of entries" that were incorrect.

An investigation by the ODPA found 216 complaints had been made to the company relating to 244 telephone numbers.

Some of these included the numbers of ex-directory islanders being published.

Sure identified 19 customers that were at risk of "potential material harm" as a result of the mistake.

The company said it was "disappointed" by the ODPA's ruling which it said was in parts "factually incorrect" and based on a "flawed and unfair investigation".

"This included a lack of full disclosure about the specific matters of concern to the ODPA, which in turn made it difficult for us to participate meaningfully with the process," Sure said.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

Condor Ferries has assured residents and businesses in the Channel Islands freight supplies "will continue" post-Brexit.

It follows a reportedly leaked British government document that suggested food and other goods may be air dropped into the islands after the UK leaves the EU in January next year.

Condor's chief executive Paul Luxon said the company had received "assurances" its twice-daily departures from Portsmouth were "safe-guarded" in order to continue a freight delivery to the Channel Islands.

The ferry-operator also said it was seeking support from Jersey, Guernsey, and the UK government if a hard Brexit forced French travellers to carry a passport instead of the currently-accepted ID card.

"We estimate that 30% to 40% of our continental passengers only possess ID cards", Mr Luxon said.

"It is unlikely every visitor will want to spend €85 (£75) on a passport just to come to Jersey or Guernsey so the impact in terms of falling tourism numbers may be felt across the islands and the UK too.

"This is a very serious matter and certainly not the news we would want after such a difficult and challenging 2020," he added.

Rebecca Thorn
BBC News

People arriving in Guernsey from the Republic of Ireland will have to self-isolate for two weeks because of rising coronavirus infection rates there, the States has announced.

The country was moved to Group A of the States three tiered classification of countries, external, which requires the full 14-day quarantine.

Northern Ireland was also moved to Group A on Tuesday.

The other UK nations remain in Group B, which allows arrivals to leave quarantine if they test negative for the virus after a week.

Iceland, Jamaica and Portugal (excluding Madeira) are currently on the Group B watchlist, meaning they are likely to move to Group A soon.

BBC Radio Guernsey

Guernsey Police are appealing for witnesses after a pedestrian, who was crossing the road at the bottom of Pedvin Street, was injured by a Smart car.

The individual sustained injuries to their leg and required hospital treatment.

The incident happened at around 16:50 BST on Monday.

Anyone who was in the area at the time, who may have seen anything, is asked to contact the police on 01481 725111.

Forty nine candidates registered they are standing in the 2020 general election on Tuesday, the first day nominations were open, according to the Bailiff's office.

Nominations for Guernsey's first island-wide election close at 16:00 on Friday, 4 September.

The vote for 38 seats in the States of Guernsey will take place on 7 October with advance polling days on the 3, 4 and 6.

Details of how to stand are available on the Election 2020 website., external

A full list of candidates will be published once the nomination period has closed.