At some point within the next three weeks, Les Pas Holdings will become legal owners of the prime waterfront site beside the Elizabeth Marina valued at £10 million.In return, Les Pas and Advocate Richard Falle as Seigneur de la Fief de la Fosse will drop all claims to ownership of the St Helier foreshore, ensuring that what already stands on the waterfront and at La Collette will remain in public ownership.It was securing the certainty of ownership of millions of pounds’ worth of public assets that prompted the Policy and Resources Committee to propose the land deal as an out-of-court settlement to the States.Minutes after the vote was taken, P & R president Senator Frank Walker said: ‘I am obviously relieved and happy that the arguments put forward were accepted by a significant majority of the States Members present.
I would not have been happy to have come out here with a majority of two or three votes and say the House truly backed the proposition.
However, we had a ten-vote majority and that was a significant majority,’ he said.Senator Walker said contact would be made with the Les Pas side overnight to start the process that would lead to the deal being signed.
The two-day debate was acrimonious at times, with opponents of the deal putting strong arguments as to why they believed it was in the public interest to continue to fight the legal battle.It will be at least four weeks before transcripts of the two-day States debate on the Les Pas issue are made available to the public as a whole.The transcripts will contain details of the legal advice given to States Members that played a crucial role in yesterday’s vote of 26 to 16 in favour of the £10m land deal.The States Greffe said that the four-week delay was legally required, as there was a three-week period for the land to be transferred and a further week before all aspects of the deal with Les Pas Holdings were concluded.The transcripts will give a detailed account of the two-day debate and Policy and Resources Committee president Senator Frank Walker said it was important that they were publicly released as soon as possible so that people could have the opportunity to hear the arguments.It is not known at this stage whether there will also be transcripts made available of last week’s in camera sitting of the House as a committee when the legal position was originally outlined in detail to Members.The States Members voted as follows:FOR:- Senators Jean Le Maistre, Len Norman, Frank Walker, Wendy Kinnard, Terry Le Sueur, Paul Routier, Mike Vibert and Philip OzoufConstablesSt Brelade – Max de la Haye, St John – Mike Touzel, St Peter – Tom du Feu, St Clement – Derek Gray and Trinity – John GallichanDeputiesDavid Crespel (Trinity), Terry Le Main (St Helier), Jerry Dorey (St Helier), Gerald Voisin (St Lawrence), Celia Scott Warren (St Saviour), Lyndon Farnham (St Saviour), Sarah Ferguson (St Brelade), Geoffry Grime (St Mary), James Reed (St Ouen), Patrick Ryan (St Helier), Mike Taylor (St Clement), Jackie Hilton (St Helier) and Guy de Faye (St Helier)Total 26AGAINSTSenators Stuart Syvret, Paul Le Claire and Ted VibertConstablesSt Helier – Simon CrowcroftDeputiesRob Duhamel (St Saviour), Alan Breckon (St Saviour), Jacqui Huet (St Helier), Bob Hill (St Martin), Gerard Baudains (St Clement), Peter Troy (St Brelade), Roy Le Hérissier (St Saviour), Ben Fox (St Helier), Judy Martin (St Helier), Geoff Southern (St Helier), Julian Bernstein (St Brelade) and Carolyn Labey (Grouville)Total 16Not presentSenator Christopher Lakeman (declared an interest)ConstablesSt Martin – John Germain (out of the Island), St Ouen – Ken Vibert (declared an interest), St Saviour – Philip Ozouf snr (ill), St Mary – Ken Le Brun (out of the Island), St Lawrence – Geoffrey Fisher (out of the Island) and Grouville – Dan Murphy (out of the Island)DeputiesPhil Rondel (St John) (declared an interest), Maurice Dubras (St Lawrence) (declared an interest), Jennfier Bridge (St Helier) (ill) and Collin Egré (St Peter) (out of the Island)Total 11
