Earlier this month, parishioners voted 48 to 43 in favour of a proposition to sell the St Helier House tower block and the adjacent nursery, next to the People’s Park, to Columbia Estates for £2.9 million, albeit with a ‘betterment clause’ restricting the profits the buyer could make from the site.
St Helier House, a former residential home, was closed last year after its ageing cladding was found to be combustible following an inspection in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
Housing Minister Sam Mézec publicly opposed the sale proposition and suggested that Andium Homes, the States-owned social housing developer, should be the favoured purchaser, despite the fact they had made a lower bid for the site.
Following his failure to block the deal, the former St Helier Deputy is now planning to lodge proposals to reform the voting system in St Helier, claiming that many people who took the same view as him could not attend the parish assembly on 7 August, which was their only opportunity to vote on the matter.
The Senator would like to see proxy votes made available and the voting window to be extended at assemblies.
In a social media post he wrote: ‘Following lots of messages from disappointed parishioners who were unable to attend the parish meeting to save St Helier House (which lost by just five votes), I will be lodging a proposition to allow for longer opening hours and proxy voting for parish propositions, to enable more Islanders to have their say on local affairs.
‘In the year 2019, it is wrong that such important decisions can be made by a handful of people in a parish hall during a short meetings in a single evening.
‘We must open up the process and extend democracy.’
