STATES Members will be asked to endorse a proposal to double the size of the Millennium Town Park by extending it across the former Jersey Gas site.
St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft has tabled a proposition calling for the move and to request the Council of Ministers to inform Andium Homes, which owns the land, of the decision.
The future of the old gas works site has been uncertain for several years.
It was bought by Andium in 2017 from a private developer, but the government-backed housing provider’s plans to build more than 100 homes there were halted last year after neolithic remains were found in the area.
Andium later announced that they had dropped their plans to develop the plot and instead recommended it be used to extend the Millennium Town Park.
Outlining his proposals, Mr Crowcroft said that there had been a ‘growing appreciation’ of the importance of amenity space in St Helier and that this was the ‘one-and-only chance’ to create a sizeable park in town.
He said: ‘Last year it was proposed by Andium Homes that the site of the former Jersey Gas company, between the Millennium Town Park and St Saviour’s Road, which had long been proposed for housing, should instead be used to double the size of the park, with no other buildings upon it.
‘Andium’s vision mirrors that of the early campaigners for the creation of the Millennium Town Park and it offers the Island its one-and-only chance to create a park of significant size in the heart of a growing capital.’
The Constable added that the decision to extend the park would be seen for decades as the ‘most important action towards urban regeneration’ taken by the government.
‘As the parishes of St Helier and St Saviour are increasingly being asked to take responsibility for the thousands of new homes required in Jersey, it seems only right that the quantum of such critical infrastructure as parkland be increased, and that the unique and visionary opportunity offered to the Island by Andium Homes be supported by the States Assembly.’
Housing Minister Russell Labey has previously signalled his support for the extension of the park, but also said that the Education Department was eyeing up the former Jersey Gas headquarters for a new St Helier school.
Mr Crowcroft’s proposition is due to be debated during the States sitting that is scheduled to begin on 25 April.
