PLANS have been submitted to move a St Brelade’s Bay water-sports business and café a few metres to make room for a new lifeguard base.
The proposals include relocating the Absolute Adventures office and Solshine Café, next to the Oyster Box restaurant, from the beach front to the open space above, where there is a number of public benches.
This would allow the RNLI lifeguards to operate out of the hut currently used by Absolute Adventures. Until now the lifeguards have been relying on using private land to house their station at the western end of the bay.
In a letter submitted to the government’s planning website by Chester Mackley and Sean Kinsella, who own both businesses, they said that, if successful, they would build a new timber shed while retaining the benches and would restore a pergola that was previously erected on the public space, but was taken down earlier this year.
‘We’ve tried our best to be proactive in the plans at addressing any concerns the public may have about the new development. We’ve worked with the parks and gardens team to ensure the design is in keeping and complimentary to the garden areas surrounding the pergola site and we plan to use trellising and climbing plants to make the new area blend in as much as possible,’ they said.
‘We know the idea of new buildings and changes in St Brelade’s Bay might be initially concerning for some, but we’d like to reassure anyone reading this that, from the very beginning, these plans have been drawn up with the community needs as the central focus,’ they added.
The pair said they were keen to give the lifeguards ‘unimpeded sea views to ensure the bay remains a safe place for everyone to enjoy the sea’.
‘Our businesses have grown and thrived in our current home on the promenade, but we are happy to hopefully move up and away from the beach front if it means the RNLI have the option for a permanent home in St Brelade’s Bay and we are able to restore the pergola and develop a popular community space in the bay where our customer-serving businesses can continue to provide for the public,’ they said.
