It took the Planning Committee less than 20 minutes to unanimously approve an application from Jersey Property Holdings to knock down the old swimming pool on the Glacis Field and the disused cable car station above Snow Hill car park.
The £4.55 million demolition project is expected to begin late in 2018.
The Assistant Economic Development Minister with responsibility for sport, Steve Pallet, spoke in favour of the plans.
‘I am pleased, as this is the first part of a long process of a significant regeneration of Fort Regent,’ he said. ‘But I will be very sad for a number of reasons, because these buildings have been an important part of many people’s lives. The public have got a lot of memories of the Fort in its heyday.’
The process to restore the prominence of Fort Regent in the community will begin next year, he added, when Economic Development seek expressions of interest from potential investors and developers.
Planning officer Ginny Duffell recommended approval, saying the buildings posed a serious risk to public heath and safety, largely because of the amount of asbestos used in the building housing the swimming pool. In addition, neglect over many years and repeated vandalism had made the two structures unsafe.
Four objections to the demolition were submitted to Planning but nobody spoke against the proposal at yesterday’s meeting, which was held at St Paul’s Centre.
Planning Committee chairman St Mary Constable Juliette Gallichan said: ‘It is a very sorry state of affairs but the only thing to do is to approve this action, as the assistant minister has said, so we can start to move forward.’
She was joined in the decision by Trinity Constable Philip Le Sueur and Deputies Graham Truscott and Jeremy Maçon.
Last week, Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel – who has political responsibility for the demolition project – said funding for the demolition had been secured and work would start towards the end of 2018 and into 2019.
It is expected to cost approximately £1.275 million alone to remove the asbestos in the fabric of the pool building. A bridge connecting the pool to the old Fort buildings is also to be removed.
