JUST weeks after the £55m Strive sports complex was rejected for being ‘too big’ for Jersey, could another major development could be heading for the same fate?
Historic buildings expert Antony Gibb, who sits on the Jersey Architecture Commission, argues that plans by Port to develop the quay on which the La Folie Inn sits do not have a ‘viability problem’ but ‘a size problem’.
He says that plans to construct a hotel on the Folie quay of up to 150 rooms – which could require a building of six or seven storeys – simply are too large for that site.
“Trying to shoe-horn a large development on to St Helier’s oldest pier is asking for a bust-up with planning, heritage bodies, port users and others. Any pre-application approach to planning will already have established that,” he writes in today’s JEP.
Mr Gibb – who was involved in the restoration of 16 New Street and the Hospital Block at Elizabeth Castle – added that other, more viable, schemes had already been proposed.
These included one by a group he supports, the Jersey Building Preservation Trust, which proposes turning the former pub, which closed in 2004, to self-catering and residential units, with the buildings behind becoming shops, artists’ studios, a marine centre, light-industrial units and a restaurant / café.
It is understood that another scheme, by the Jersey Community Land Trust, is in the pipeline.
What is the “appropriate size and scale” of a proposed development has been a topic of much debate of late, both before and after last week’s meeting of the Planning Committee, which refused an outline application for a 179-room, six storey hotel next to Strive Health Club in St Peter.
In reaction, the Chamber of Commerce argued that economic interests should outweigh the policies of the Bridging Island Plan, which the rulebook against which all planning decisions are judged.
The Assembly-approved BIP was approved in 2022 and was supposed to last until the end of this year, but has been extended for an indeterminate period, possibly for the ten-year span of normal Island Plans.
It has a policy for tall buildings, which says that buildings which are two or more storeys “above the prevailing contextual height” or over 18m (or four-six storeys) high will only be supported where…”
It then lists several broad exceptions, such as “[the building] is well-located and relates well to the form, proportion, composition, scale and character of surrounding buildings and its height is appropriate to the townscape character of the area”.
Another is: “It does not unacceptably harm longer views and context at street level” and “its height can be fully justified in a design statement.”
Addressing the town of St Helier specifically, the BIP states: “Development of a tall building of over eight storeys within Town will only be supported in appropriate circumstances and where the overall benefit to the community will demonstrably outweigh any adverse impacts.”
The BIP also has a section which addresses development of the Harbour and refers to Ports of Jersey’s Port Masterplan.
The BIP states that: “Proposals for the development of the port facility, including the release of land for other forms of development, will be supported where it can be clearly demonstrated that the development will not hinder the maintenance and enhancement of the port’s strategic function and its safe, efficient and effective operation.”
It adds: “The development of any new infrastructure or changes to the use of land and the development of new uses at the port, will need to have regard to its impact upon listed buildings and places, both within and around the harbour, but also in relation to the wider townscape setting of the harbour and key landmarks, such as Elizabeth Castle.”
In the States Assembly recently, Economic Development Minister Kirsten Morel said that the Island risked getting into “something of a mess” through insisting on adherence to the Bridging Island Plan, a policy which he described as “unrealistic”.
“The Harbour primarily has to be a functional harbour,” he said. “If you stop development because of wanting to maintain how [the harbour] looked 200 years ago then that’s a really dangerous place for Jersey to be.
A procurement process for the site of La Folie Inn, which closed in 2004, was announced in July.
Last month, a spokesperson for Ports of Jersey reported “encouraging” interest in the site during a pre-market engagement process.
Ports of Jersey has previously stressed that the 18th-century La Folie Inn “holds a special place in Islanders’ memories” and would be “central” to the area’s future.
The plans to revive La Folie form part of a wider regeneration programme to transform St Helier Harbour.
Unveiled in 2022, the Harbour Master Plan also seeks to consolidate freight and passenger marine operations into “purpose-built, sustainable facilities” while improving pedestrian access and connectivity with the town centre, as well as creating public spaces along the waterfront.
Construction work to reconfigure the Elizabeth Harbour is due to start next year and last until winter 2028.
Read Antony Gibb’s full letter on page 14 of today’s JEP.
