A small parcel of public land will be transferred to the company transforming the Water’s Edge Hotel in Bouley Bay into a luxury home as part of a deal which will see the developer cover the cost of dealing with a landslide.
Under the agreement, a 1.5-metre by 20-metre strip of land will be ceded to W.E. (Jersey) Ltd in exchange for the firm covering all costs of restoring the public slipway, building a retaining wall, and carrying out stabilisation works at the base of the rock face “in order to reinstate the boundary of the remainder of the Public’s land”.
According to a report presented to the States Assembly by Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan on Thursday, the developer has also agreed to pay for any legal, road extinguishment, and transaction costs related to the work.
The Minister authorised Jersey Property Holdings to proceed with the transaction, with the Attorney General and the Greffier of the States empowered to pass the necessary contracts on behalf of the public.
The land swap agreement can be finalised 15 days after presentation to the States.
Plans to demolish the hotel and its associated buildings and construct a single home with guest accommodation, pool, pool house, tennis court, parking, landscaping and separate staff accommodation were submitted in June 2021 and passed by the Planning Committee in October 2022.
With plans approved, the hotel – which closed its doors to guests in 2008 – was bought for £6.4m in April 2023 by an unnamed family.
The hotel has remained closed and fenced off, although its new owner has paid for the building of a wooden-clad temporary dive centre on the German bunker in the middle of the bay.
Separately, Mad Mary’s Beach Café has moved from the end of the promenade beneath the hotel to next to the temporary dive centre.
Demolition works began last month.
