They now have eight days to respond or the compulsory purchase proceedings, which have been approved by the States, will move on to the next stage.
Education Minister Tracey Vallois has signed a ministerial decision authorising notice to be served on the owners of fields 80, 84 and 85 as per the compulsory purchase law.
The report accompanying the decision states that the offer is made up of £194,100 – calculated on the basis of £15,000 per vergée – plus £58,900 to compensate for the reduction in value of retained land as a result of the deal.
The owners were served notice on 31 August that the States intend to compulsory purchase the land. They were given the opportunity to notify the States Greffier of the amount of compensation they were prepared to accept and did so on 28 September.
However, the report says: ‘The minister considers the amount of compensation sought by the owner to be excessive.’
As a result they have now been given eight days to accept the final offer or an application will be made to the Inferior Number of the Royal Court for an order that the land be given to the public.
If the compensation is disputed then an upfront payment of 75% of the offer for compensation must be made when vesting the land until the board of arbitrators have made a determination on the dispute.
The report states that the decision to proceed under the Compulsory Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961 was required to ensure construction of the new school can be completed in time for the academic year due to begin in September 2020.
Preparation work for the new school has already started despite the set back in acquiring all of the land.
Progress in negotiations on acquiring the remaining three fields came to a halt earlier this year when a States report revealed that the owners had upped their asking price from £194,000 to £3.8 million.
However, Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis later said this was not the case and that talks were ongoing.
The States agreed earlier this year to use compulsory purchase on the three fields on Rue Carrée but only as a ‘last resort’.
The latest report acknowledges that agreement can still be reached between the parties while the compulsory purchase process continues.
