Winter storm damage left a ten-metre hole in the retaining wall of the historic pool, which reopened as the West Park Victorian Marine Lake in 2014 after a restoration project.
Although it is owned by the government, the Parish of St Helier is responsible for the pool and a parish official admitted this week that the feasibility and cost of the repair work was still being considered.
‘It’s horrible to see something in that state, but there is quite a lot of damage and repairing it would be a complex job,’ said Silvio Alves, the parish’s director of technical and environmental services.
‘It’s a shame not to be able to take action as quickly as was hoped, but the cost of repair is likely to be significant and would have to be budgeted for.’
Mr Alves said the cost of repairing the existing hole alone was likely to be several times the £20,000 which the parish has allocated annually to repairs, and there was also the chance that other holes may appear.
‘You need to look at the whole pool, not just one part of it. We are checking it twice a week to make sure that it is safe,’ he added.
In 2012, after lying unused for decades, it was announced that a team, led by former Senator Pierre Horsfall and including St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft, were considering restoring the pool – the biggest marine lake in Britain.
The Jersey Development Company and St Helier each put £100,000 towards the project while £115,000 was supplied by the Tourism Development Fund.
Mr Horsfall said he was very disappointed that the pool remained damaged and out of use.
‘People keep stopping me and asking when it will be open again. The pool is part of our heritage – it was originally opened in the year of Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee and was restored in the year of Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee – and you can’t just throw part of your history away.’
Mr Horsfall said the pool should be repaired, with the government taking responsibility for the work, or sharing the cost with the parish.
‘The cost of repair would have to be weighed against the cost of clearing the pool. You couldn’t just leave it there,’ he said.
