St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft has written to Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham asking the team to apply for a permit to allow initial work to be carried out.
Last month, a requête – an ancient legal device to bring a parish assembly – was called and parishioners voted to temporarily block the sale of parish land and prohibit construction work in relation to Westmount Road, which is the approved access route for the new hospital at Overdale, until further details were provided.
Members of the design team were subsequently seen carrying out work on parish land, including measuring and marking out areas with chalk paint. However, this prompted the parish to order that work be stopped, as residents claimed that this contravened the will of the parish assembly.
The project team for the new hospital said that effectively left them in a Catch-22 situation, as they were unable to provide the parish with detailed plans without being able to first carry out some initial analysis and measuring of the site.
And yesterday, it was revealed that the cost of extending contracts with the delivery partner for the project, as well as inflation estimates, could add an additional £100,000 a day, should the timeline for completion slip.
Senator Farnham has confirmed that the application for a permit to carry out work on parish land is ‘in train’ following an invitation from Mr Crowcroft.
The Deputy Chief Minister said: ‘He [Mr Crowcroft] suggested that the project team submit an application for a permit to enable the team to carry out the non-invasive work needed to produce the detailed plans.
‘The decision of the parish assembly is not to allow anything to happen until they receive more information. Once they receive the relevant information I would hope that we would receive parish support.
‘The important thing for the project team is to fulfil the request of the parish assembly.’
Senator Farnham said that the work would be completed ‘as soon as possible’ and that he hoped the application would allow for the detailed designs requested by the parish.
He added that it was hoped that the full planning application would be submitted in the autumn and that the target date for completion of the new hospital remained.
‘The project team is still working to the original timetable for completion at the end of 2026,’ he said.
‘The sooner we deliver it the more positive impact that has on cost. The longer it takes the more it will cost.
‘At the moment I fell confident we can stay on track.’
