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If ever there was a candidate for Jersey’s worst ever blot on the landscape, then this has to be it.
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At the point on Rue du Boulivot where the roadside banque diminishes to reveal a panoramic view from the Dicq to Five Oaks, the leaden sky was intersected at about a 45° angle by a vivid shaft of bright light. Those of a more impressionable nature may have braked sharply to alight and gaze on this wondrous sight.
Could it be a sign from ‘above’ of an impending heavenly occurrence such as the second coming or was I witnessing an alien invasion? Should I fall to my knees in prayer or call the honorary police? I pondered as I slowed to a safe viewing driving speed. What with a Papal visit to the UK imminent at that time, and casting my mind back to the unexplained sightings in the sky last year, one never knows what to expect.
Unless the Messiah was looking for a job in waste disposal, or the Island had done a deal to transport our rubbish to the Milky Way, both scenarios were unlikely. The shaft of light curiously fell on the giant metal box of an incinerator nearing completion at La Collette. As an afterthought it could have been even more public money being sucked out of a rather costly project because some bright spark at Treasury didn’t take the currency conversion factor into account.
It doesn’t need a shaft of light or any other visual aid to make this structure of Death Star proportions stand out from whatever angle it is viewed and from a considerable distance. In terms of impact on the south coast it is hideous – but then functional buildings aren’t usually famed for their architectural beauty or positive contribution to the built environment.
In my past incarnation as a JEP reporter I covered the saga surrounding the search for the new energy from waste plant for what seemed at the time like several lifetimes, yet I don’t recall any of the artist’s impression depicting such a gargantuan building. If ever there was a candidate for Jersey’s worst ever blot on the landscape – and let’s face it we’ve had more than any community’s fair share over the years – then this has to be it.
• Read the full column in Friday’s Jersey Evening Post
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