Le Masurier’s £70m vision for Bath Street approved

Le Masurier’s £70m vision for Bath Street approved

A £70 million plan to build a 122-bedroom Premier Inn and 145 apartments on a run-down section of Bath Street was approved by the States Planning Committee on Wednesday.

A pedestrianised link between the old Odeon cinema and Halkett Place along with a new retail unit and a new restaurant are also due to be built on the site and construction could begin as soon as January.

The decision followed nearly two hours of representations at a packed hearing from people for and against the development – including Tracey Ingle, the Planning Department’s historic buildings officer, who said she would be putting forward a ‘strong and sustained objection’ to the application by developers Le Masurier.

Ms Ingle made the comments with regards to the proposed demolition of two listed buildings and the impact that the scale of the new structures could have on the other neighbouring listed buildings.

The Planning decision was made days after it was revealed that Environment Minister John Young may have put the decision to an independent UK planning inspector had ‘heritage issues’ been highlighted earlier.

Le Masurier (26083599)

This was after he found out that a recommendation to list 90 Bath Street, a Regency-era building, had been held for almost eight weeks before being rejected on the same day that his department published its support for the development.

During yesterday’s hearing, others spoke strongly in favour of the development, including Ian Williams, owner of the Cog and Sprocket bicycle shop and tenant of one of the soon-to-be-gone buildings and Colin Foster, owner of the adjacent Daily Globe pub.

A previous £40 million scheme for the area put forward by Le Masurier in June 2010 included a number of flats but no hotel. It also included the demolition of the grade-one listed former Odeon building but Le Masurier pulled out of the project in January 2011 after they were refused permission to demolish it.

Planning Committee chairman Deputy Russell Labey, who alone on the panel objected to the scheme, said it was rare that the historic buildings officer’s comments were disregarded.

‘The Planning Committee normally upholds the findings of the historic environment officer and we tell the applicant to go away and come away with something better,’ he said.

‘Normally, a better scheme comes back. In all conscience I cannot approve this scheme.’

However, the other committee members, Deputies Graham Truscott, Rowland Huelin and Constable Philip Le Sueur upheld the planning officer’s recommendation to approve the application.

Speaking after the decision was made, Edward Bennett, director of Le Masurier, said the move signalled his firm’s confidence in Jersey – despite global political and economic uncertainty.

‘We are proud to deliver Jersey’s second Premier Inn, which will be ready in 2021, and also helping to meet Jersey’s chronic housing requirements with 144 apartments, plus underground parking, to be completed in 2022,’ he said.

‘This substantial regeneration will also create a new public pedestrianised route from the Millennium Town Park to the Library and on to the Central Market beyond, providing vibrancy, essential connectivity and a new gateway into town.

‘This new lane will provide more green space in St Helier with planting, al fresco dining, communal seating, water features, courtyard gardens and residential rooftop terracing.’

However, Marcus Binney, president of Save Jersey’s Heritage, said: ‘We lament this decision which flies in the face of the Planning Department’s own policies and guideline,’ he said.

‘There was and is a much less destructive way of achieving the desired result.’

QUOTES

St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft: ‘When Le Masurier walked away last time, when it was insisted that the Odeon was kept, I thought that was the end of it. I talked to officers in my team about the possibility of compulsory purchase of the site as I despaired at the thought of it never being regenerated. The only people who are investing in this area of town is the private sector and I, quite frankly, think we should be biting their hand off.’

Charles Alluto, chief executive of the National Trust for Jersey: ‘This is our town, our space and our heritage and we should have a voice in how it is developed and designed. Is it too much to ask for Bath Street to be restored? Is it too much for new yards and tree-lined walkways? Is it too much to ask for front doors as opposed to parking spaces? Is it too much to ask for human and local context? Is it too much to ask for some beauty?’

Alastair Layzell, founding chairman of Save Jersey’s Heritage: ‘When holidaymakers walk out of the development and turn right they will be confronted with a wall of five storeys which, I am sad to say, says nothing about the charming Island that they have elected to visit and could simply be in anywhere town.’

Mike Stein, director of MS Planning: ‘We calculate that the loss of 144 homes from this site will equate to the loss of ten to 12 acres of green fields. This effect on the countryside and the associated generation of thousands of weekly commuter car trips represents a much greater tension than the loss of two unremarkable listed buildings.’

Murray Norton, chief executive of the Chamber of Commerce: ‘It is clearly neglected and run down and investment is needed in this area. Even at 50% occupancy, the Premier Inn will bring in 22,000 bed nights a year. Retail has been very much a challenge and particularly so in the last three years. Any linkage to town will give a much-needed boost in footfall.’

Ian Williams, Cog and Sprocket: ‘It is like an old bike. You love it and cherish it but at a certain point the cost of maintaining it is just not worth it anymore. You have got to get something new and I truly believe that is what we need here.’

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