During an Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny hearing yesterday, Deputy Kevin Lewis was asked by Constable Mike Jackson, the panel’s chairman, whether he had given any thought to the idea.
In response, the minister said that all options were being considered but that he wanted any solution to be ‘as green as possible’.
‘I did mention that in the early stages but obviously there is considerable expense involved and I mooted the idea of bringing in a travelator or railway-type of thing past the King George IV homes as an access route but it was considered to be too expensive and too steep,’ Deputy Lewis said.
‘But access is paramount and we will be looking at all manners of access – whether that is a courtesy bus, cars, bikes or mopeds – but to keep it as green as possible would be an ambition of mine and if that means [putting in] a cable car of sorts then so be it.
‘We need the mass transit to get people up and down there as there will be staff as well as patients wanting to get to and from there.’
Deputy Lewis added that if a hospital was built at Overdale, other infrastructure improvements would include the potential ‘refurbishment’ of Westmount Road to allow it to cope with a greater volume of traffic.
If a cable car system is built, it would not be Jersey’s first. During the summer of 1970, amid Jersey’s tourism boom, a link was established between Snow Hill and the Fort Regent ramparts.
The system ran until 1991 and the Snow Hill station – adjacent to the existing public toilets – was quickly demolished. However, the upper station remained until 2018 – 30 years after it closed its doors.
