OPPORTUNITIES to encourage private investment in sports facilities – possibly by supporting investors with planning application fees – are being explored by the Infrastructure Minister, a scrutiny panel has heard.
Constable Andy Jehan, who is also an Assistant Economic Development Minister with responsibility for sport, said that there were “significant sports looking to invest private money” and that the government could make better use of its land with a “partnership approach”.
He made the comments during a hearing of the Economic and International Affairs Scrutiny Panel.
“We have got some amazing facilities on this nine-by-five Island serving 100,000 people, but we need to continue to improve,” Mr Jehan said.
“What we also have got to do is to maintain what we’ve got, because in some cases, we’ve been very bad at that.
“Last year we saw a lot of challenges at the Les Quennevais [Sports Centre], for example. Les Quennevais is coming towards the end of its workable life, so we are looking at what we can do there.
“We’ve also got swimming pools that have got to be maintained and, unfortunately, our swimming pools are all of a similar age – so that becomes a problem when you have got to repair and update swimming pools at a similar time.”
However, Mr Jehan said there were “opportunities”, both in terms of improving the public estate as well as the potential to support private investment in sports facilities.
“I’m encouraged by the amount of people I talk to seriously about investing in sports, but what they want is some kind of surety,” he explained.
“They don’t want to be putting a planning application in for a sports facility when there is no indication of whether they are going to get that passed or not.”
Mr Jehan cited a proposal for a cricket centre in St Martin that failed to gain enough support from politicians during the Bridging Island Plan debate in 2022.
Panel chair Deputy Montfort Tadier asked how the issue could be addressed, adding: “You’re not suggesting that sports clubs should be able to short-circuit a planning process.”
The Minister replied: “Not short-circuit a planning process at all, but I’m looking at how could we help financially.
“If a sports club puts in an application, they are paying a lot of money in terms of fees.”
He noted that he had worked with an organisation that had spent “tens of thousands of pounds” on an unsuccessful planning application, after which the investor had “walked away”.
“I’m looking at how we could support organisations, individuals, who want to invest in sport, Mr Jehan continued, explaining this could involve doing “something with the planning fees”.
“There are significant sports looking to invest private money, but they want surety. And what we’ve got is land, on the Island, and the government owns land which we could utilise better perhaps with a partnership approach.
“Those are the kind of areas we are working on.”
The Minister also faced questions over the decanting of sport from Fort Regent, which is due to be closed before the end of this year ahead of a planned £110 million redevelopment.
It recently emerged that a survey commissioned by the Jersey Development Company on behalf of the Government garnered more than 6,000 respondents, with around 90% reportedly satisfied with the plans.
But Sean Pontin, chief executive of Enable Jersey, yesterday shared concerns with the JEP over the level of input disabled Islanders had been able to provide in advance.
He said that the disability charity had contacted Mr Jehan and the JDC about how they intended to ensure that children and young people with disabilities – and their families – were able to contribute to the plans.
“We gave suggestions and offered to assist but to date have had no reply,” he said on Wednesday.
Asked for a response, Mr Jehan said he thought the JDC had responded to Mr Pontin, adding: “We certainly want to work with him [Mr Pontin] and also have meetings scheduled with the Diversity Forum.”
He continued: “The consultation is the start of the process, not the end. We are going to want far more engagement with people throughout the process, whether they specialise in disability access, or minority groups or whether they specialise in one of the facilities we want to put there.
“We really want to engage with the community.”
In a statement, a JDC spokesperson said the development company would “directly engage with the disabled community as part of the design process, helping to ensure the Fort’s new all-weather activities are accessible to all”.
They continued: “As recommended by the community in the public survey’s feedback, additional features such as an autism-friendly sensory zone are also being considered.
“Further discussions with the Government’s Diversity and Inclusion team are planned for early July to progress this work.”
