My contention at the time was that without a body capable of strategically co-ordinating the interests of the town’s private and public sector stakeholders, within the context of urban regeneration, then many opportunities would be missed to create new economic vibrancy. I wanted St Helier to look cool in a way that it currently doesn’t.
The report, which I presented at Architecture Week in 2013, was not simply about identifying suitable locations for new works of art, but was an upbeat manifesto urging the town to reconnect with its tradition for economic innovation by applying creative and cultural thinking at every scale. Public art provision was just one of the many ways I suggested we could collectively enhance the townscape and the report drew upon a range of varying disciplines aimed at delivering socially-inclusive community engagement schemes, training and employment opportunities, urban greening projects, decluttering initiatives, historical trails, safer pedestrian and cycle pathways, pocket parks, green corridors and sophisticated lighting schemes, to name but a few.
At the time I also suggested that there were many good examples of urban centres that had exercised creativity and innovation in specific areas such as education, transport and street design, but that it was rare to find places that had been able to think about their future as an integrated whole.
Ultimately I expressed the view that there was great potential to reconnect the town to a purposeful vision by crossing bureaucratic boundaries and providing a platform for political decision makers, developers, architects, artists, community groups and individuals to support the idea of making St Helier a culturally relevant and sophisticated urban environment. Perhaps upon reflection it was a little bit pompous, but I concluded that such an approach would speak highly of the way Jersey values creativity and engenders civic pride in its capital.
Of course nothing happened.
Well actually not quite. A year later the same Planning Minister made a grand presentation at the Radisson at which he boldly announced the ‘Future St Helier’ project in which he set out a similar vision, supported by the Council of Ministers, to make St Helier a strategic priority for the next 4 years.
Three years have passed since then and over a pint last week with a politician who is most heavily invested in the success of the Future St Helier initiative we sadly agreed that nothing of note had been achieved in that time save for the closure of the Charing Cross slip road that leads into Castle Street. Small beer.
The recent announcement by the current Planning Minister that there is to be further public consultation on the possible introduction of a Community Infrastructure Levy, for which developers will be asked to make substantial financial contributions towards town improvements, hints at the reason for such slow progress. The reality is that without funding, nothing of note can be achieved – a point that was privately acknowledged by senior planners at the outset.
Percentage for Art – an initiative that encourages developers to spend on public installations as part of major schemes – and the cycle track project have been offered up as the sacrificial lambs in this brave new world, which might please some people but which ultimately form a retrograde step which fails to acknowledge that both are vital ingredients in successful regeneration. The potential loss of negotiated Planning Obligation Agreements between the Planning Department and developers to a more Sicilian approach of extracting money have also caused something of a stir.
So what does the private-sector developer think of all this? Not surprisingly they are unified in their dislike of this new proposed tax to such an extent that rumour has it that expensive lawyers have been hired to derail the Levy. Expect more on that in the months ahead.
Another cause of consternation is the fixed fees that would potentially be applied to developers across the board which in turn relate to the size and numbers of units they build. This approach presupposes that all developers work on the same profit margin, which is clearly not the case, and could potentially serve to only encourage cheaper forms of development.
So, with less than a year to the next election, it looks like the Council of Ministers will not easily be able to say that they have successfully delivered on their promise to make St Helier a strategic priority. There has been a recent mention of the release of a new public realm strategy for St Helier, but will the public be suspicious of grand promises in an election year? Moreover, will this strategy be the inspiring piece of work that captures the imagination and transforms the town?
In the weeks ahead, regular readers with an interest in this subject will learn more about a range of alternative views that have been quietly simmering away outside of government. Hopefully that will stimulate some healthy debate and provide a forum for stakeholders to spell out clearly where St Helier needs to be in the future.
