EXCLUSIVE
A FORMER housing minister and prominent campaigner on the future of the Lido has thrown his hat into the ring to become the next Constable of St Helier.
Deputy David Warr revealed his intentions to the JEP after the newspaper revealed that long-standing incumbent Simon Crowcroft was intending to step down after around two decades in the role.
Deputy Warr, who is also the owner of local coffee merchants Cooper & Co, has served as a representative for St Helier South since 2022.
The independent backbencher and former Housing Minister sits on the Public Accounts Committee as well as the Environment, Housing and Infrastructure Scrutiny Panel.
He has been vocal on a number of St Helier matters that have made headlines in recent years, including debate over the future management of the Lido at Havre des Pas as well as calls to extend the Millennium Town Park.
“The feedback that I’m getting – and I’m talking about five or six-thousand leaflets that have been dropped out [to] residents of St Helier by those individuals who are supporting the extension of the park – is minimal resistance to that idea,” he said.
“The idea ultimately is to deliver for the people and deliver what people want.
“That is clearly an example where there has been a lot of pushback from other politicians who have been very anti-park extension for lots of other reasons, but I think the writing is on the wall and we need to build an extension to the park to recognise the increasing population density in that part of town.”
Deputy Warr explained that he had not considered serving as father of the parish until it emerged that Mr Crowcroft – Jersey’s longest-serving politician – will not be seeking re-election in June.
“It’s difficult as an independent backbencher to try and shift the dial,” Deputy Warr continued.
“I was seriously thinking about the senator race and an Island-wide mandate, but obviously this has come up and I feel it is a great opportunity,” he added, describing St Helier as “Jersey in a microcosm”.
In addition to the Millennium Town Park and the Lido, Deputy Warr said that making St Helier “more accessible” was also an area of interest.
And he stressed that he was “very keen” to engage with Islanders more to help inform decisions, citing the recent protest during the Lido debate as an example of where constituents had sought to make their voice heard.
“The general public have a lot to say and have a lot of insight into how things should work.
“I think a lot of people feel very left out,” he continued, adding that he favoured a ‘bottom-up’ approach of “gathering data and intelligence” from Islanders and then using that to inform policy.
- Departing St Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft was the subject of the JEP Saturday Interview last weekend – read the piece in full here.
