- A park-and-ride system
- Shared public and private parking so spaces are not left empty during the day or night
- Green corridors which provide scenic connecting walkways through town
- More parking in the north of St Helier
- Town-centre cycle routes[/breakout]
TAKING a walk through town reveals a wide mixture of buildings – some glass-fronted and modern, others crumbling where they stand.
Last year the newly composed Council of Ministers announced a ‘new deal’ for Jersey’s capital, with a focus on turning St Helier into a thriving centre where people want to live, work and visit.
That intention was reinforced recently when the council suggested that St Helier should be a key focus for the States Strategic Plan (which guides major policies for the next three years) which is due to be formalised in the coming months.
Broadly speaking, it is hoped that a fresh approach will breathe new life into town, with the aim of housing the majority of the population there to protect the Island’s countryside from development.
If I want to plant trees now, depending on how fast they grow, I won’t necessarily see the benefit of them.’
The vision for a new St Helier:
RETHINKING the make-up of an entire town throws up any number of potential obstacles and stumbling blocks.
While achieving a new-look St Helier is bound to be a challenge in its own right, at least the Island is starting from a reasonably straightforward position.
AS part of the Future St Helier project, one of the first steps will be a reassessment of what has come before – what plans were previously drawn up, what has been achieved under those schemes and what aims are still relevant.
The so-called masterplans have not enjoyed great success over the years, with few leading to concrete results. In recent years designers have come up with:
- The St Helier Urban Character Appraisal (2005) Willie Miller Urban Design
- A Strategy for the Future Development and Regeneration of St Helier (2007) EDAW
- The Esplanade Quarter Masterplan (2011) Hopkins Architects
- The North of Town Masterplan (2011) Hopkins Architects[/breakout]
The States have agreed that development should largely be confined to town and the existing built-up area, and that Jersey’s countryside and coast is to be protected.
Deputy Luce said: ‘I think everybody acknowledges the valuable part that the green and pleasant countryside plays in Jersey life, and we all want it to stay that way. It’s the countryside that ultimately makes high-value residents want to relocate here. When people arrive in Jersey and see the countryside and coastline and the safe society, they say they can’t get all of that elsewhere. The beauty of the Island is a big factor in all of this.
‘Now, the vision is to make St Helier a better place all round, a place where people want to be working, shopping or just visiting, but mainly living. We want people to be saying, “Great, I’m going to find myself a nice place in town and I’m going to be really happy there”.
‘Some good work has been started, but we really need to expand on it. Generally speaking, we should have more green space in St Helier, and in that, there are endless opportunities.
‘Different user groups, the town centre manager and residents will all play a big part in this as well. That will be really important, because people who take pride in their environment end up keeping it clean and tidy.’
The main first step to achieving a more pedestrian-friendly town centre is to reduce the number of cars in town as well as the number of vehicles parked on the street. And once the number of cars has been cut, certain areas can become greener, tree-lined corridors, or attractive open areas for community events.
‘We want people to be able to move around on foot as easily as possible,’ Deputy Luce said. ‘We want areas of residential development in the north of town particularly and have been looking for units of accommodation that are maybe a bit bigger than people are used to.
‘We also want the business community to feel involved. We’ve been very fortunate in St Helier to retain almost 100 per cent occupancy in our high street, and we mustn’t let that go.
‘There will be a slight movement of our retail core towards the Waterfront, but to my mind the markets, West’s Centre and areas connecting to Queen Street, Snow Hill and the west of town are going to be crucial.
‘There’s also a recognition that the Central Market and Fish Market could start to stimulate an events culture in town so that people visit St Helier not just for shopping, but for other things as well.
‘When we get people into town, we need to make it an experience that they enjoy and something they want to do again. And if we can create this pleasant pedestrian experience with some green avenues, people will walk to and around town, as long as they don’t feel intimidated by traffic.’
How can this be achieved?
ALTHOUGH pedestrian-ruled, tree-lined streets where weekly outdoor markets and festivals are held sounds promising, and perhaps brings to mind memories of European city breaks, rejuvenating St Helier will not happen overnight.
YOU cannot discuss a rethink of St Helier without considering parking.
Although one of the overall aims is to reduce the number of cars around town, Deputy Luce said that there will always be a need for parking, which should largely be confined to sites on the ring road. While the States could consider simply raising the price of parking in town, the Deputy said such a move was risky because it could be seen as élitist, with a portion of the community able and willing to absorb the extra cost.
He added: ‘Parking has a big role to play and it’s the subject that everybody talks about, but you can’t please everyone.If we can find ways to prioritise bus travel, it would make things easier, and having car parks on the ring road is probably where we want them.
‘We’ve had people remarking how well we’ve coped with the loss of Gas Place car park, so it may well be that car parking isn’t quite the issue that we think it is.But there is no question that we need to provide more parking in the north of St Helier somewhere. I want to see every parking space in town used as much as possible.
But the Environment Minister is hoping that encouraging a large number of small changes will add up to make a big difference.
He explained that developers could be asked to contribute to certain regeneration projects – perhaps a town tree-planting scheme – as part of their planning permit.
And he hopes that those benefits can be made obvious by using a ‘Future St Helier’ badge or logo to explain how a particular development is funding work elsewhere in town.
‘I think we need a logo for the Future St Helier project that people can recognise,’ Deputy Luce said.
‘As Environment Minister, I will be looking for contributions from developers all over the Island to help with the plan.
‘If we have a logo, people will see the sign that says this development is funding X number of trees or a green space elsewhere in town.
‘And if we can have this Future St Helier badge, people will notice that things are being done and you will then get more people involved.
‘So first of all we need to identify things like where we can plant trees in town without interfering with mains services.
‘Elsewhere, the difference might just be having a different-coloured road surface to make it obvious that pedestrians have the right of way.’
And just as Cambridge city centre introduced longer-lasting red traffic lights at weekends to deter drivers taking their car into town,Deputy Luce said that the States had similar controls that could be used to make driving in the heart of St Helier much more difficult.
Envisioning a new St Helier could also be helped by 3D computer modelling, with software used by the Planning Department to produce experimental designs for how town might look in ten, 20 or 30 years.
Deputy Luce added: ‘Some parts of town really are gems waiting to be discovered again. For example, there are some areas near Springfield with little streets that are filled with original, beautiful houses.
‘We know that this project will have been a success when we have our first £1 million town house. I hope people who enjoy living in town want to stay.’
In December 2010 the States approved the policy, which called for a 15 per cent reduction in peak traffic by 2015.
It was hoped that through encouraging bus use, walking and cycling Islanders would learn to leave their cars at home and find greener ways to travel around the Island.
However, a review of the strategy carried out in 2013 – three years after it launched – revealed that peak traffic had dropped by just 1.7 per cent.
In the same report use of public transport was found to be up by nine per cent, the use of road fuel was ten per cent down on its 1994 peak and roadside air quality had improved.
Now, the States Future St Helier plan could help reduce traffic in town if measures to reduce cars in the Island’s capital are introduced.
With over a quarter of the area of the Island already within the built environment and the ever present demand for more homes and economic growth, the question of town development versus the countryside is again making the headlines.
Town politicians and campaigners are currently arguing for more green space in town, more parking and fewer homes. Although not explicitly stated, the clear consequence of this policy would be to put further development in the countryside, something that the general public when consulted (Imagine Jersey 2035) resoundingly rejected.
Building homes in town will use existing roads and other services. The new residents will be close to existing schools and many will be able to walk to work. Shops and supermarkets are nearby and there are plenty of activities for teenagers. Unlike most UK town dwellers, our town residents are also within easy walking distance of the seaside: St Clement’s Bay, Grève d’Azette, Le Dicq, Havre des Pas, La Collette, West Park and First Tower and beyond, with safe bathing waters and large open spaces to do as they please.
On the other hand, clearing a town site for an open space and substituting a green field site for the new homes makes poor use of both sites. Building those homes on the green field site is wasteful, using far more space than would be needed on the town site.
Traffic movements are increased and new access roads needed. Parents will drive to work in town often with extra journeys to take children to school. Even if more people are encouraged as part of the Sustainable Transport Plan to walk and cycle, building over a green field site loses that part of our natural environment permanently. A town park on a Jersey scale will always be a small urban space hemmed in by the buildings which surround it and never be as open as the countryside or the beach.
If the status of St Helier as the prime built-up area is ignored, the character of the whole Island will be at risk with the increasing loss of open land to housing estates – urban sprawl. The Island Plan recognises this risk and promotes compact development. Rural and natural areas must not be compromised.
Equally, new town buildings, homes and public spaces must be of the highest quality. Some might state that
St Helier has never been a beautiful town. However, it remains a worthy capital for the Island and it has been continually refreshed with new buildings over many decades. Architects, developers, urban designers, town residents and politicians should all work together to ensure that this decade’s contribution to St Helier’s regeneration at least matches the best from the past.
