JERSEY Bowling Club is set to move to its proposed new home at Warwick Farm next year, despite ongoing issues regarding the access route to the new hospital at Overdale.
A potential land swap for the plot at Westmount, which has been the club’s home for years, was rejected by parishioners at a parish assembly last week, along with a government offer of £6.5 million for land required for the access road.
However, following that decision St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft said that he believed the relocation of the club would still take place.
A ministerial decision signed by Infrastructure Minister Kevin Lewis earlier this month appears to confirm the move, indicating that the government intends to break the existing lease for Warwick Farm with IHP Ltd, operators of Jersey Hemp.
IHP’s existing nine-year lease, which dates from January 2018, will now cease four years early on 1 January 2023.
Three plots within the Warwick Farm site are potential locations for Jersey Bowling Club, and once a selection has been made, the government is expected to negotiate a new lease with IHP.
The bowls club’s move is expected to take place around the end of September next year following the conclusion of the 2022 summer season.
Following the parish decision, the government confirmed that it would now embark on the process to acquire the land owned by St Helier via compulsory purchase.
While one parish official – Procureur du Bien Public Peter Pearce – warned the parish assembly’s attendees that voting down the government offer might mean a lower price for the land, parishioners supported the rejection of the deal by 47 to 14.
Mr Crowcroft said that a previous vote in the States Assembly obliged the government to find the club an alternative location.
