A ST Brelade Deputy is calling for the public to protest at the former Nude Dunes restaurant this weekend over plans to turn the site into self-catering tourist accommodation.
Montfort Tadier voiced concerns about the “privatisation by stealth” of Jersey’s coastline.
The JEP recently revealed that Planning had been asked to change the site’s use from hospitality to residential, after the former Nude Dunes went bust in November 2023 just months after opening its doors.
Deputy Tadier, who has called for a demonstration to take place at the La Pulente site at 3pm on Sunday, told the JEP that it was “entirely inappropriate” for the restaurant to become a private dwelling, self-catering or otherwise.
He recalled the Line in the Sand protests of 2009, during which thousands of Islanders turned out to protest about overdevelopment on the coast.
Deputy Tadier also cited numerous examples of where the government has intervened to save stretches of the Island’s coast from falling into private hands, including at Plémont and Grève de Lecq, where a former café nearly became a private dwelling before States Members agreed to buy it.
The new owner of the site has submitted plans for a two-bedroom self-catering unit with an attached café and public toilets, but the application sparked concerns from Islanders, who said that the building could ultimately become a multi-million-pound private dwelling.
“For me, this is a textbook example of the transfer of public assets into private hands,” Deputy Tadier said. “We don’t want to see this lost as a public amenity. The public has been put in a completely unacceptable position.
“In the comments on social media, people seem resigned to it and see it as cynical. I’m not sure that is true but I don’t want to see the public excluded from this facility. People feel powerless.”
The former toilet block at La Pulente was sold by the government for just £100,000 in 2014 and is now thought to be worth more than £3.5 million. It was purchased by Nude Food, run by local couple Lucy Morris and Jackson Lowe, in January 2023. After a massive redevelopment of the site, it opened as a restaurant in June 2023 and closed less than six months later.
According to a planning statement seen by the JEP, the site’s new owner has not been able to find a buyer or operator for the restaurant in the months since.
“The premises have been offered for sale or for rent, and no reasonable offers have been forthcoming. It is notable that a new operator has been found for [Nude Food St Aubin] but not for Nude Dunes, [which] indicates that it is [not economically viable] as a cafe or restaurant,” the statement says.
A popular nearby kiosk, The Hideout, used to be based close to the toilets but moved further down the slipway access road when work to redevelop the building began. It was forced to close in October 2023 after a battle with the parish of St Brelade over its lease.
At the time, Constable Mike Jackson said that the Hideout was only meant to operate until the Nude Dunes restaurant opened. The owner of the café, Karl Sutton, described his dispute with the parish as a “David and Goliath battle” which he did not want to repeat.
