Health Minister defends his approach to hospital project

Health Minister defends his approach to hospital project

Senator Andrew Green said that submitting a broadly defined concept of the scheme, rather than the final design of the proposed facility, saved ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. He added that the next planning application would be submitted in the same manner.

The application was described by Deputy Russell Labey as having been submitted using the ‘Rochdale Envelope’ approach – an approach to the planning process that allows a project description to be broadly defined, within a number of agreed parameters, for the purposes of the application.

In its planning application for the new hospital, the Health Department gave a broadly defined description of its plans, in the hope it would obtain permission, rather than giving the exact design of the final build. The department proposed building the new facility on the current site, extending on to Kensington Place.

However, the planning application for the £466-million project was rejected by Environment Minister Steve Luce following a recommendation from a independent UK planning inspector who reviewed the proposals.

The inspector questioned the building’s size and scale in his report.

Deputy Russell Labey asked Senator Green during questions without notice in the States whether the next set of plans would be submitted in a similar manner to the first.

‘I believe that to take the last application as far as he did was a grave error of political judgment,’ Deputy Labey said.

‘But if he is to cling on to his role, will he at least give the Assembly the assurance that he will no longer employ the “Rochdale Envelope [approach]” for a future application for the hospital because the public of this Island, the Assembly, [and] planners deserve to see what they are going to get.’

Senator Green replied: ‘Sir, I can give absolute assurance that I will use the Rochdale profile in the next application because the inspector says in his report that it is an appropriate way of receiving outline planning permission.

‘We could spend hundreds of thousands of pounds designing something in detail which needs to be changed. The Rochdale profile sets out the density of the building, the height of the building.’

However, Deputy Labey said that the ‘Rochdale Envelope [approach]’ had only been used once before in Jersey for the Energy from Waste plant, adding that ‘we all know how that ended up’.

‘It is quite wrong to use outline planning permission,’ Deputy Labey said. ‘It’s planning by the back door. The outline planning permission is the neighbour’s enemy and the developer’s friend. It is quite wrong and will he reconsider using it for this development?’

The minister replied: ‘No. It is clearly the right way to go. The independent inspector says so. We can all pretend to be experts in planning, sir, as most Members seem to be an expert at everything. We can all pretend to be an expert, but an expert here has said that it is appropriate.’

Senator Green was also asked whether he would re-examine the merits of other sites for the new hospital.

‘No,’ he said. ‘We have done that work. It has been done twice by two ministers.’

Meanwhile, the minister told the Assembly that £23 million had been spent on the Future Hospital project so far, with some of the money being used for temporary works ‘to ensure that we can maintain a safe hospital’.

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