Funds lacking for government property update

Funds lacking for government property update

All businesses and government buildings in Jersey have to be fully accessible for people with disabilities by September this year following the approval of new laws in 2018.

Jersey Property Holdings is now conducting a review of its stock to prioritise the work that needs to be done.

Earlier this year, businesses were accused of burying their heads in the sand in relation to making changes to their premises by Jim Hopley, of the Jersey Disability Partnership.

During a recent Public Accounts Committee Scrutiny hearing, civil servants were pressed on what had been done with regards to government buildings and whether the relevant changes would be made in time.

Interim director of Jersey Property Holdings Tim Daniels was asked whether an audit of the government’s property portfolio – to assess the changes needed – had been done.

Mr Daniels said the department did not have enough money to make changes across the board and that resources had not been available last year to carry out a review of more of the government’s buildings.

He said that the review was now under way and that he hoped it would be completed in a month.

He added: ‘There is money that has been put into the Government Plan to effect the changes that are required, but what we are doing is having a relook at the premises that we have currently got, to determine exactly where the focus should be.

‘The challenge would be that we do not have enough money to make universal access in all of our properties. We are going through a prioritisation process with disability bodies, charities and the like to make sure that we can get a workable solution that will then get proposed to the minister to approve expenditure, so that we can provide, to the best of our endeavours, the access that the law requires.’

In 2018 it was predicted that making the changes so the government properties complied with the law could cost £10 million.

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