The Weekly Briefing from The Quarry

• La Grande Mare's golf course has undergone a seven-year, multi-million pound transformation, opening to players on 1 August with £200 green fees and no membership required initially.
• The renovation removed decades of waste including cars and refrigerators from an old tip, cleared 40 years of silt from lakes, and installed advanced drainage systems including pumps to combat flooding.
• The redesigned course is now 600 yards longer at 5,367 yards with par 69, featuring strategic design inspired by world-famous courses like Seminole and St Andrews.
• Owner Stephen Lansdown's vision was to create a European Tour or Ryder Cup-quality venue that Guernsey can be proud of, with the site expected to employ over 100 people when the country club opens in 2027.
• Advanced engineering including GPS-guided construction, wall-to-wall irrigation, and 10 hectares of sand create world-class playing conditions designed to remain playable even after flooding.

• A £10 million Victor Hugo Centre is planned to open in Guernsey in 2029, located in the former Tourist Information building in St Peter Port
• Fundraising has reached £7.5 million so far, including £2.5 million in match funding from the States of Guernsey
• The three-floor centre will feature performance and exhibition spaces, a museum with seven galleries, and a learning centre focused on Hugo's values of human rights and social justice
• Victor Hugo wrote Les Misérables in Guernsey after arriving in 1855, though few of the musical's million-plus global audience know of the island connection
• Planning application expected before year-end, with construction beginning in late 2027 for a two-year build period

• Dawn Spindler appointed as Guernsey's first dedicated motor neurone disease clinical specialist occupational therapist
• Two-year post fully funded by Guernsey Motor Neurone charity in partnership with Health & Social Care
• Role took 18 months to develop and will provide specialist support from diagnosis through to end-of-life care
• Ms Spindler will focus solely on MND patients, providing assessment, anticipatory planning and personalised intervention
• Organisers hope the post will become permanent within core HSC services once its impact is demonstrated

• Guernsey's Overseas Aid & Development Commission awards £50,000 to Medair UK for PPE supplies
• WHO declared DRC Ebola outbreak an international public health emergency on 17 May
• Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine and fatality rate of up to 50 per cent
• By 26 May, WHO reported 246 probable deaths, 121 confirmed cases and 10,776 suspected cases
• Funds will protect frontline health workers and responders at heightened risk of infection

• Development and Planning Authority approves demolition of road frontage buildings at Leale's Yard, along with new temporary vehicle access and security fencing for the 6.3-acre regeneration site.
• Six buildings previously protected within the Conservation Area can now be demolished following introduction of the Land Amenity Improvement Notice Ordinance, 2024.
• Approval includes seven conditions requiring revised environmental management plans, ecological protections, and extended tactile paving before work can commence.
• St Sampson Douzaine raises pedestrian safety concerns about the new access road location within a complex mini-roundabout handling high traffic volumes.
• Contaminated land investigation of identified douit must progress before ground-breaking works can proceed beyond exploratory holes, according to environmental health officials.

• Castle Bridge will remain open to pedestrians during eight-week preparatory works starting 15 June
• Contractors will strengthen nine historic granite piers from the 1800s using cement grout injection
• The piers will be retained as part of the like-for-like bridge replacement
• Main reconstruction begins in September 2026, requiring approximately nine months of full closure
• Access underneath the bridge remains prohibited due to risk of falling material from the deteriorating structure

• Children and family community services recorded 95 data breaches between 2022 and 2025, with numbers rising from seven in 2022 to 33 in both 2024 and 2025
• Seven of the 95 breaches met the threshold for mandatory reporting to the data protection regulator, with most reported within the statutory 72-hour deadline
• One breach in 2024 was reported 21 days late, the longest delay in the four-year period covered by the freedom of information request
• The Committee for Health and Social Care said delays were caused by the need to accurately assess breach severity and gather complete information before notification
• Staff receive regular data protection training, and the committee emphasised that breach numbers represent a small proportion of thousands of interactions processed annually

• Arabella Remfrey, 8, raised £570 for Les Bourgs Hospice in this year's Rock to Rocque cycling challenge
• She completed the full course after cycling the shorter nine-mile route with her father last year
• Bella was the biggest single fundraiser at the event, which saw 332 participants
• The annual charity cycle ride raised more than £8,000 for the hospice
• Funds help meet the £2.8 million annual cost of running Les Bourgs Hospice and its services

• States approve final grant of £10.7m towards 70 affordable homes at former CI Tyres site
• Development will comprise 61 one-bedroom and nine two-bedroom homes
• Funding provided through Affordable Housing Development Programme
• Number of homes exceeds initial expectations when site was purchased
• Construction by Groupe Legendre to begin following approval of final development proposal

This week's audio briefing

The Weekly Briefing from The Quarry

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