THE potential for sewage spills from St Aubin’s Fort will be virtually eliminated if its pumping station can be upgraded, the government’s Infrastructure Department has said.
It has applied for planning permission to lay a concrete plinth at the 16th fortification to form a base for a new electrical control cabinet, which will allow for live 24-hour remote monitoring of sewage flow.
Currently, there is a “high risk” of sewage spill at the fort, which is cut off from the Island at every high tide, because its pumping station can only be monitored manually.
Its existing control panel is within a German bunker; however, its location does not comply with modern safety standards, so the plan is to move it outside to be housed in a 1.4m-high cabinet, which will be painted to look like the bunker concrete wall immediately behind it.
The planning application said: “The proposed development is a very modest development and improves the resilience of the current infrastructure at the Fort.
“The potential for sewage spills at the Fort will be all but eliminated by virtue of the ability to remotely monitor the ongoing condition of the site and respond in a timely manner to any failures.”
The application adds: “St Aubin’s Fort was established in the 1540s as a gun tower on a small rocky islet guarding the entrance to St Aubin’s Bay, then Jersey’s main harbour.
“It was built during a period of transition in military design, as fortifications were being adapted to accommodate artillery. Over the 17th century, the fort was strengthened during the English Civil War, first by Parliamentarian forces and later by Royalists, who replaced earlier works with granite ramparts and added height to the tower.
“Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the fort continued to evolve, undergoing multiple phases of rebuilding and modification as military technology and defensive strategies changed. By the Victorian era, its strategic significance declined, and at times it was even used as a summer residence rather than an active defensive site.
“During the German Occupation in World War II, St Aubin’s Fort regained military relevance when it was reinforced with turret guns, concrete casemates, and other defensive structures as part of the island’s coastal fortification network.”
Today, the inner-walled section of the Fort is a youth activity centre.
