THE Jersey Development Company wants to build up to ten three-bedroom homes on the site of a former care facility, according to a government report.
And the sale of Aviemore, in St Martin, by the government to the JDC, could return up to £2.5 million to taxpayers, the report revealed.
However, the potential value of the scheme is still less than what the government was originally hoping to sell the site for on the open market.
When the long-abandoned building – set in a rural area with views over Grouville Bay – was listed for sale in January last year, offers “in excess of £3m” were invited.
However, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan said last month that he was minded to accept an offer of £1.3m from the States-owned JDC.
This was to be supplemented by an “overage payment” subject to planning permission being received on a scheme to develop the site.
Now, following a bid – due to be debated at a States sitting beginning today – to halt the sale by Deputy Alex Curtis following concerns over the process and value of the deal, the Infrastructure minister has released more information about the JDC’s offer and the previous bids received.
He revealed that five other offers were received and rejected – none of which were as much as the £3m asked for:
– £100,000 for “charitable purposes” – a bid rejected as it apparently “was not in line with the Government Plan” and “did not reflect the true value of the site”. An option to return the site to government ownership if it was no longer used for charitable purposes “was not agreed by the bidder”, the minister said.
– Three bids ranging from £895,000 to £1m from “recognised local developers” – all of which were rejected as being “too low”, and none of which included an “uplift” payment following development of the
site.
– £1.1m from an “independent developer” – a bid which was rejected “as the receipt of funds were subject to finance approval and subject to a potentially lengthy and uncertain time-frame of up to four years for completing the development”.
– The JDC’s offer was accepted, as it represented the “best return to taxpayers”, according to Mr Jehan.
While they had separately spoken to St Martin’s parish administration about a scheme, he said the parish indicated that the site “did not align” with an affordable scheme, and that the site was also deemed “too remote [in relation to] the village amenities for parish-supported tenants”.
In the report, Mr Jehan wrote: “SOJDC are looking at two housing redevelopment schemes. Its preferred scheme is to develop up to ten three-bedroom semi-detached houses.
The overage mechanism for such a scheme is to pay in addition to the £1.3m initial payment, a further £120,000 per house that is permitted up to a maximum overage payment of £1.2m, making a total potential payment for the site of £2.5m.
“The alternative scheme,” he continued, “is to refurbish and potentially extend the existing building to create terraced houses and apartments.”
The idea of selling off Aviemore was originally put forward by Kristina Moore’s government, prior to the vote of no confidence which unseated her. The plan was for the proceeds of the sale to go towards care leavers.
Mr Jehan previously confirmed that the plan is now to create an endowment fund from which “funding would be available following the assessment of applications to support the realisation of personal aspirations, in addition to access to small rapid grants for urgent circumstances”.
