The West of Town Community Association has been established by St Helier Deputy Richard Rondel, Christian May, who stood unsuccessfully for election in the parish’s district 3/4 in October, and local resident Rachael Fay.
And they are now looking for more people to join the committee that will lead the association.
The group plan to meet with St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft in the coming days and then produce a constitution, list of aims and series of meeting dates as soon as possible.
They also want to know what people living and working in the area, which includes Cheapside, Rouge Bouillon, The Parade, Gloucester Street and the adjacent areas, want their priorities to be.
They plan to send out a questionnaire to residents to find out what issues they want tackling.
Mr May said he expected people’s concerns to include traffic and road safety, development – particularly of a new hospital should the existing site be used – and what could be done to help people drinking and taking drugs at The Parade and in The People’s Park while at the same time ensuring that the parks can be used by residents.
‘Forming the association is something that has been on my mind for quite a while and one of the reasons I stood for election was because I wanted to represent the people who live in the district,’ he said.
‘I think Cheapside and Rouge Bouillon haven’t benefited like First Tower and La Pouquelaye have from having residents’ associations.
‘There is great work being done in the rest of the parish and I think this area is missing out.’
He added that he hoped the new organisation could be as successful as the First Tower Community Association, which has been running for a number of years.
‘I think First Tower is a shining example of this kind of thing,’ he said. ‘If you go out to First Tower you see the work they have done with the school and cleaning up the flower beds and so on.
‘It has got a very strong community feel out there and it would be great to grow that in the west of town.’
For more information email westoftowncommunity@gmail.com, search for the group on Facebook or @WestofTownJsy on Twitter.
Letters can sent to: West of Town Community Association, C/O House 3, 8 Lewis Street, St Helier, JE2 3PB
