Annual income from interconnector cables on seabed (FOI)

​​​​Request

Please provide the annual income accruing to the Government of Jersey since 2015 when it recevied ownership of the territorial seabed and foreshore. This would be from any leases or licenses it has granted to place interconnector cables and the like on or beneath the seabed and foreshore and paid by utility providers including, but not limited to, JE Plc, Guernsey Electricity, Electricité​ de France, Jersey Telecom and any other related entities. 

Please also explain the policy rationale in the event that the Government of Jersey is not presently maximising revenues from these valuable assets in the same manner as, for instance, the Crown Estate and Scottish Government do in the UK.

Response​

Please see the following link to a Ministerial Decision relating to the transfer of the asset from the Crown to the public. 

Seabed and Foreshore - Jersey: Transfer to Public from the Crown (gov.je)

In addition, the link below indicates that there was a Ministerial Decision on 29 June 2015 to approve the grant of rights in perpetuity to Jersey Electricity PLC in respect of a cable wayleave across the Foreshore and Field 387 at Greve de Lecq, St. Ouen.

Jersey Electricity Cable Wayleave: Foreshore and Field 387, Greve de Lecq, St. Ouen: Grant of Rights (gov.je)​

As this information is publicly available, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. 

No further information is held by the Government of Jersey in this regard; therefore Article 3 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 applies.

Articles applied 

Article 3 - Meaning of “information held by a public authority”

For the purposes of this Law, information is held by a public authority if –

(a)     it is held by the authority, otherwise than on behalf of another person; or

(b)     it is held by another person on behalf of the authority.

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.​​