- Plans submitted for Jersey’s first off-road buggy track
- Two north coast fields near Sorel Point proposed for the track
- Would you like to see an off-road buggy track near Sorel Point? Take part in our poll
- Read a Letter to the Editor from a neighbour who is against the scheme below
TWO north coast fields could become the home of Jersey’s first off-road buggy track if new plans are given the go-ahead.
Roger Le Maistre, a director of Creepy Valley Adventure Centre, has submitted a scheme for two parcels of land near Sorel Point opposite the popular motocross circuit on St John’s headland.
He wants to create two off-road buggy tracks – one for adults and one for children – under a new business called Off Road Adventures Jersey.
If approved later this year, Mr Le Maistre said he would hope to welcome the first buggy racers to the courses by Easter.
Under the plans, grass would be grown on the green zone fields and the courses marked out using tyres and straw bales.
Portakabins would be used to provide a reception and office at the site as well as a secure means of storage for the vehicles.
Mr Le Maistre explained that he had canvassed more than 30 sites to try to find the right location for the project.
‘There is currently a karting track at the Living Legend, but that’s going to be closing at some point which means there will be no driving activity for tourists or locals and that’s a massive, massive loss,’ he said.
‘We’ve had great backing from Visit Jersey.
‘We get asked about driving experiences regularly at Creepy Valley.’
The businessman explained that the site had been chosen for its remote location, the existing high hedges, which he plans to add to to increase screening, the access to parking and the relatively flat surface of the land.
The business would also create jobs for up to four full or part-time employees.
Mr Le Maistre said the company had chosen quieter ‘leisure’ buggies with four-stroke engines, rather than louder racing vehicles.
A St John parish meeting at the site is due to be held on Saturday 26 September to show residents what is planned and how the buggies work.
While the scheme has received written support from Visit Jersey, the C.I. Travel Group, pub group Randalls and more than ten residents, some Islanders have objected.
Neighbour Jane Monins wrote to Planning to say: ‘The entire area is enjoyed by walkers, dog walkers, horse riders, people walking with prams, young children and joggers and this proposed development would entirely spoil the entire rural feel of the area.’
From Hilary Morris.
SO, it would appear that if you require anything to be approved within the Green Zone then all you have to do is apply to Planning under the guise of a tourist attraction. No? Well this is exactly what is happening up at Sorel Point.
I have lived in the parish for 19 years and my family and I moved to Sorel in the knowledge that the motorcross and karting club operate in these areas only on certain weekends of the year. I personally have never had an issue with these and this current application is no way connected with either the karting club or the motorcross.
What people do not appreciate is that this application is not for an existing track but for two brand new tracks in an agricultural field next to the coastal national park. The parish accepts some disturbance on the days when the motorsport clubs operate. But a line needs to be drawn. This new proposal is for a commercial enterprise not connected to clubs or societies to create two buggy tracks for petrol-driven buggies, with associated portacabins, steel containers and chemical toilets at Sorel Point to operate every day, all year in the summer from 9 am until 7 pm and in the winter from 9 am until 4 pm.
What is even more galling is that the applicant has been funded to the tune of £50,000 by the Tourism Development Fund. How can the States of Jersey spend millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money with one hand saving Plémont only to give money away with the other hand to a private company to desecrate another beautiful headland only a short distance up the north coast? This is clearly not a tourist attraction if it is to operate all year round and cater for parties and corporate events too.
Most of your readers will know what a peaceful, popular and beautiful place Sorel Point is with far-reaching views to Sark and beyond, not to mention the abundant wildlife here, including the reintroduction of the chough by the Birds on the Edge Project headed by Durrell. If you have never visited Sorel Point then I would encourage you to enjoy the peace while you still can as if this application gets approval, then it could soon be a very busy and noisy place to visit once you factor in the increase in noise, traffic and the parking issues.
Locals and tourists, walkers, joggers, horse riders and cyclists all come to visit Sorel and Le Mourier Valley and their surrounding green lanes to enjoy the views and the peace and quiet. Tourism says that we need to encourage green tourism. The people who wish to ride off-road buggies are certainly not going to be interested in the view or be concerned about the environment.
Please see sense and place this attraction in a disused agricultural shed, soundproofed (as they do in Europe) with adequate parking facilities but not on a sensitive area of green zone next to the coastal national park. It is simply not appropriate. What kind of a precedent would this set if approved? But as your reader Frank Le Blancq put it so succinctly (JEP 7 September): ‘Money rules. Why bother about the environment if someone can make a massive financial gain?’
