PART of a newly-built extension to Coronation Park has been bulldozed just days before the site’s official opening.
A banked area covered in wildflowers and other plants had formed a conspicuous southern boundary to the coastal site at Millbrook in St Lawrence, which housed the Island’s temporary Nightingale hospital during the Covid pandemic before being gifted to the Island in 2022.
Designed to encourage wildlife and screen the rest of the park from the noise of traffic on Victoria Avenue, the roadside mound was part of the extension to the park, which includes nature areas, a bug hut, mud kitchen, sand dunes and hills where young Islanders could play and embrace biodiversity.
Members of a working group who have been developing the new facility in collaboration with the Infrastructure and Environment Department, using responses to a public consultation, were told last Friday that the banked area needed to be levelled, with this work carried out on Monday.
The department told the JEP that the roadside mound had been designed “to support the establishment of the new dune system”, with a subsequent decision taken that it should be removed.
Sophie Moulson of Naturebase, one of the organisations seeking to achieve a greater focus on outdoor activity in children’s play, said the working group were disappointed by the outcome.
“We’ve had lots of questions about why this was done and we haven’t been able to answer them – it was a government decision, which we did not support,” she said.
“There was a design and specifications, including height restrictions, that we were working to, incorporating almost all of the feedback that came out of the consultation – we’d had a really positive relationship with the government up to this point.”
The official opening of the extension to Coronation Park by Infrastructure Minister Jonathan Renouf is scheduled to take place next Tuesday.
Ms Moulson said the area from which the banking had been removed, which by yesterday had been reduced to a flat patch of bare earth, was likely to be fenced off as a short-term measure for the opening event. Members of the working group had agreed to meet Infrastructure officials to identify the best solution, she confirmed.
The Infrastructure and Environment Department said in a statement: “The upcoming opening of the park will mark a milestone for this project and the public being able to enjoy an enhanced open space.
“Final design of the scheme was always subject to final government approval and sign-off from the donor of the land.
“The work of the design team, and in particular the working group, has been invaluable in helping to shape the project and reach this point.
“The roadside mound was to support the establishment of the new dune system. A decision has now been taken to remove the mound and, in reaching the final design, we have taken into account the views of a wide range of stakeholders, including the land donor.
“We have delivered new pedestrian connections, improved accessibility, a network of pathways, extensive habitat creation, new planting, seating areas, a bespoke natural play space and new sand dunes that reflect the historic character of the site before the seawall was constructed.
“The project has also increased publicly accessible open space by approximately 2.8 acres.
“Focus is now on the benefits the scheme brings for Islanders, including additional open space, enhanced natural habitats and improved connectivity with adjoining land. This will be a wonderful addition to the Island’s parks and green spaces for generations to come.”
The department did not offer a specific reason why the roadside mound had been removed.
