INVESTMENT in sporting facilities is urgently required in order to seize the opportunity to host the Island Games in 2035 and help improve standards of public health, the politician with responsibility for sport has said.
Two months after taking on an assistant ministerial role, Senator Serena Kersten spelled out her determination to tackle the Island’s ageing infrastructure.
Speaking to the JEP, Senator Kersten said she wanted to use a bid to bring the Island Games back to Jersey for the first time since 2015 as a springboard to bring about much-needed improvement works.
“It’s quite clear that we have a seriously ageing infrastructure,” she said. “I’ve become even more aware of this since being in the role – the age of some of these buildings and the lack of maintenance is pretty concerning.
“If we continue not to invest in our facilities, there is a big worry that these facilities will have to close and undergo huge, huge, huge refurbishments, which would have a huge impact.
“My big concern is that if we do become the preferred bidder for the Island Games, we really need to get moving on seriously upgrading the infrastructure from a sports perspective, because if we don’t, we simply won’t be ready.
“It would be a huge shame to miss out – it’s a massive opportunity for Jersey and would be huge for our visitor economy,” she added. “We should really be using the Island Games as a North Star and working backwards from there – that will be my approach.”
The former netball star, who gained the fifth highest tally of Islandwide votes in the election on 7 June, said the Island Games and the improvements it would bring would play a significant role in encouraging Islanders to lead more healthy, active lifestyles.
“If you want people to exercise and create healthy habits, you want them showing up at a facility that looks good, not somewhere that looks like it’s a hundred years old,” she said. “If you want behaviours to change, and obsesity levels to fall, you’ve got to invest.
“We’ve had lots of talk about building a first-class hospital, but if we don’t have good sports facilities and ways to keep people healthy, we’re going to end up filling that hospital with sick people.”
Among the venues referenced by Senator Kersten were AquaSplash and the Langford Sports Centre, both dating from 2002/03, and Les Quennevais Sports Centre, built in the 1980s and upgraded in 1996.
She highlighted closures and disruption at Les Quennevais in 2024 for issues such as roof damage, electrical supply problems and water quality concerns, with such factors likely to occur more frequently if better maintenance programmes were not put in place.
Sports facilities were not given an adequate level of priority in the existing Bridging Island Plan, Senator Kersten said, expressing a determination to have a sharper focus on sport in the next plan, due to be in place within the next two years.
She admitted that funding would always have to be considered.
“There have certainly been some challenging conversations,” she said. “I think [Treasury Minister] Alan Maclean has a really tough job, and he’s been open about that, but it doesn’t mean I won’t fight my corner and keep working with the Council of Ministers to see what ways forward we can find.
“Everyone understands the narrative about money being tight and the calls for government to spend less – I think we need to be innovative and explore more options, especially around partnerships with private funding sources.
“Strive is a great example of that – I would love to have two more Strive-type venues on the Island, and there’s been an element of private investment at Jersey Hockey Club and the [proposed] new indoor cricket facility at Grainville.”
