PLANS to create a one-bedroom flat within St Brelade’s Parish Hall have been rejected amid concern about the cost.
Parishioners voted by a substantial majority that the parish should not invest £300,000 in the flat project, but did support funding of up to £475,000 to replace the roof of the parish hall in St Aubin and repaint the exterior of the building.
Following worries expressed at a previous assembly about whether St Brelade could afford the full cost of the project, including the flat, Constable Mike Jackson returned to the May assembly having split the work into separate proposals.
Mr Jackson said the roof work, costing £380,000, an additional £35,000 contingency allowance and a further £60,000 to cover painting had all won unanimous support from around 40 parishioners who attended the meeting.
But the £300,000 flat proposal was rejected, with only five of those present voting in favour.
“A number of people thought the cost [of creating the flat] was disproportionate, but there was a lot of work required to make it compliant with fire regulations and all the other requirements,” he said.
“Personally it seems a bit of a missed opportunity, as there will be scaffolding in place [for the roof work] and accommodation of this type is desperately needed, but the parish assembly is a democratic body and I respect the decision.”
Mr Jackson said that the need to start work on the roof was urgent and that he was meeting contractors this week in a bid to finalise details of the project at the former Terminus Hotel.
“We want to crack on with it and I would hope it will be possible to make a start during June,” he said.
Speaking at the April parish assembly, architect Carlo Riva said the need for reroofing of the parish hall followed decades of under-investment in the grade-four listed building, with damage dating back – in part – to a fire that occurred in 1936 and some water still being supplied via lead pipes.
