£6.5M Offer For Hospital Access Road Land

The government has made an offer of £6.5million to buy the St Helier land needed to build the access road to the new hospital at Overdale.

The two parish procureurs have decided that it should be presented to a Parish Assembly at 7pm on Wednesday 15 December.

They say the offer, if accepted, represents good value to parishioners, and would possibly be more than what could be gained from going through compulsory purchase.

It includes a land swap for the bowling club, which is set to move to Warwick Farm.

It also includes:

• Some reprovision of lost parking facilities.
• The relocation of recreational facilities
• The relocation and reprovision of trees

A parish assembly voted no to the access road in June, because they wanted more information on the road design and layout.

The Parish of St Helier says the procureurs were particularly cognisant of that, and previous Parish Assembly debates, where the overwhelming view as to resist the government's attempts to buy the land until that extra information was provided.

"As Procureurs we take an oath to take care of the Parish’s finances as we would our own, if not better. This is always paramount in our minds when considering matters such as this.

We are conscious that the States Assembly has approved compulsory purchase as an option where a negotiated agreement cannot be reached.

We have taken independent advice and we concluded that this is a reasonable offer, which under the circumstances represents value to parishioners, so we believe it important that the Parish Assembly has an opportunity to consider this offer at this time." - Mr. Peter Pearce, Procureur du Bien Public.

Proceurer Geraint Jennings says if this offer is accepted, it's on the condition that the land sale will only happen if planning permission is granted.

The Parish Roads Committee will hold a public meeting on Wednesday 8 December to receive a presentation from the hospital team on the road layout and the impact the plans will have on traffic in the area.

The committee 'expressed its disappointment' last week after saying the hospital team requested the plans be discussed in private at a previous meeting.

"The Parish's Roads Committee meetings have been open to the public and media to attend for 20 years. The Constable and Roads Committee believe this public forum to be important in terms of the openness and transparency of parish decision making, allowing the public to observe presentations and listen to the Committee's discussions, deliberations and decisions.

The Committee looks forward to receiving a presentation from the 'Our Hospital' team on the 'A' agenda at their next meeting on 8th December."

Parishioners who want to attend the Roads Committee or the Parish Assembly should contact the Parish Secretary by emailing [email protected] in advance.

More details of the government offer and the Parish Assembly can be found here.