The decision was made following a parish assembly on Wednesday night during which attendees voted 34-1 in favour of the move, which relates to the former St Helier House residential home – condemned in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster – and Westmount Day Nursery.
Although no plans have been drawn up, it is hoped that any possible development could include a mix of sheltered housing, social housing and a new nursery.
Procureur du Bien Public Geraint Jennings said the agreement to enter into negotiations would provide Andium, which provides social housing in Jersey, with the confidence to begin making plans for the site.
‘At this stage Andium Homes need to go away and spend money on making plans and designs and see how any new development might fit in with their existing property on the adjacent site. The meeting provided them with a sort of reassurance that the parish assembly would be minded to allow a development to go ahead and allowed them to get the mood and feeling of voters,’ he said.
‘There were questions about whether they had looked into putting the nursery into a new and better space or whether there would be a separate building and how they could ensure the continuous operation of the nursery while any development is taking place. Plans and proposals will be brought back to the assembly in due course before any proposals go ahead. What form they will take is not yet clear.’
It is not the first time development proposals have been put forward for the St Helier House site. In 2019, private developer Columbia Group looked ready to buy the property for £2.9 million.
However, during a parish assembly where the deal was approved, parishioners voted to include a ‘betterment clause’ which would have restricted how much profit the firm would have been able to make. The developers pulled out of the deal soon after.
Mr Jennings added that it was currently unclear when construction might start, as there were many variables at play.
‘It very much depends on the planning process. We previously had an experience with Maison de Ville where we had to go through a couple of plans and we did not get approval for the social provision of the site, so we sold off the site,’ he said.
‘A lot will depend on the state of the construction industry at the time, with some very large projects taking place, and Andium will also have their hands full delivering all the other housing which has been proposed. It will also be next to the new access road for the [new] hospital, so there is a potential for sirens and increased traffic, so that will likely form part of the design brief.’
A spokesperson for Andium Homes said: ‘Andium Homes is delighted to be working collaboratively with the Parish of St Helier to explore opportunities to deliver a regeneration scheme for St Helier House and Westmount Nursery, which will provide the outcomes that the parish is looking for in terms of a new nursery and some sheltered housing for parishioners.
‘The project will also deliver new affordable homes which will contribute to Andium’s objective of delivering 3,000 new homes by 2030.’
