STREET markets, more emphasis on local produce and better parking are just some of the suggestions made by over 300 Islanders in response to a JEP article about making St Helier a more attractive place to visit.
The newspaper’s Facebook page was inundated with comments following Saturday’s article in which three Islanders offered their thoughts on the future of St Helier.
There was near unanimity about some of the biggest challenges – the difficulty of parking, the cost of shopping and the need to improve the public realm were all high on readers’ lists of priorities – but there were a range of suggestions as to how they might be addressed.
Francisco De Castro commented that commercial rents were too high for many smaller businesses, adding: “You have to be very brave. Something has to be done with commercial rentals or, let me rephrase it, would have to be done for a successful town of ours. Look at identical coastal French towns and what they have to offer.”
It was a theme developed by Philip Johnson, who suggested that applications to change the use of commercial premises should be refused in order to help drive those rentals down, while Jenny Norman wanted to see the cost of importing goods reduced to allow small businesses to sell more cheaply.
But a number of Islanders also suggested that street markets – either a permanent one in Broad Street or perhaps a weekly market – would also add atmosphere to the town centre while diversifying options for shoppers.
Karina Bisson wrote: “Let’s have a weekly market with locals selling wares and goods. Create a community and don’t charge extortionate prices for them to do so.”
Improving the appearance of St Helier – the theme of Sasha Gibb’s public consultation last year – inspired a range of reactions, from Alan Tremlett’s pithy “St Peter Port!” to longer comments like those of Anna Goncalves: “Why not allow mural-type art on doors and disused/tired-looking buildings. It would brighten up the area – presently it’s not pleasant to walk in St Helier – plus a great art initiative. Many places, such as Madeira and Malta, have done this to great success,” she observed.
Susan O’Driscoll wanted landowners to be forced to improve the appearance of shops, but Jacqueline Garnier was equally frustrated by the amount of scaffolding currently evident along streets. Kevin Dean summed up the aspiration to make the environment more attractive.
“It’s all about improving the public realm and place-making. A bit here and a bit there is not good enough,” Mr Dean wrote.
“Everything needs to be designed and built in an aesthetically beautiful way with place-making at its core.” More busking and street music also featured on wish-lists, as did more public art, although opinions on the latest installation of shirts hanging over the confluence of roads at Charing Cross included a range of not universally popular responses – from Dave Snell’s: “Could probably start by bringing the washing in”; to Jim Duffy’s: “It’s patently clear that the town needs more launderettes.”
