Finding a future for the Fort

Now a new steering committee, led by Deputy James Reed, is readdressing the knotty problem posed by the Fort, which ultimately boils down to two questions – what is it really for and how can it be made to make commercial sense?

It will be interesting to see if the new committee can make progress where others have failed, though many observers will be dismayed to see that their exercise is already generating ridiculous jargon. We are told that the committee’s interim report includes a ‘draft vision’, a grandiose phrase of the sort that Islanders have learned to view with suspicion.

They will, for example, be all too aware that there was once a ‘vision’ for the St Helier Waterfront, but that it disappeared a long time ago in a welter of piecemeal third-rate vulgarity.

However, sceptical as many people will be about any public body’s chances of finally solving the conundrum of the Fort after decades of manifest failure, this does not mean that the effort should not be made. After all, the Fort, in its dominant position above town and with its core of deeply traditional granite architecture capped by structures which still look futuristic, has a great deal going for it.

With this in mind, plus the realisation that old formulae based on leisure and sport with the addition of sometimes bizarre embellishments such as funfairs and model aircraft exhibitions have never worked, a complete rethink is called for.

It is not, of course, necessary to rule out sport and leisure – indeed they are likely to be essential ingredients of any sustainable plan – but other possibilities, such as residential development and perhaps a restaurant with the best views in the Island, must be considered.

Above all, the new committee would best serve the public by reaching a conclusion that should have been reached years ago – that private enterprise should be heavily involved in turning the Fort into a profitable asset of which the whole Island can genuinely be proud.