James Scott has hit a brick wall in his endeavours to create a new 3G football facility since the landlord, Jersey Property Holdings, backed out of an agreement to lease the land to him after the discovery of restrictive covenants. The former Muratti cap sought the support of politicians to contest the decision and launched an online government petition, which has gathered over 2,300 signatures since January.
A ministerial response – forced when a petition hits 1,000 signatures – poured cold water over Scott’s plans in February but he is refusing to back down. The closing date for the petition is approaching and he wants to reach the 5,000 signatures required for it to be considered for debate by States members.
‘I’ve invested a lot of time and hard work into this and I don’t want to give up easily,’ said Scott. ‘As they say in football, you’ve got to pull your socks up and get back out there.
‘It’s still there, lying empty. It would be great if we can get them to support a local lad and get the area put to good use.’
A covenant on the land, dating back to 1961, allows certain neighbouring houses to give or deny consent to any building works on the site. Scott plans to contact the residents and owners of the houses to address any concerns they may have, from noise and traffic to opening hours.
The netball courts have lain largely unused since the Jersey Netball Association departed in 2010.
The 3G football court petition is available to view via petitions.gov.je/petitions/200630.
Full story in Tuesday’s JEP.
