States Members will be asked formally to overturn the decision to build on the land following a proposition from Deputy Russell Labey. Chief Minister John Le Fondré has now confirmed that his ministerial team will be supporting the plans to overturn the decision to develop the existing site.
And while the Assembly could still opt to reject Deputy Labey’s proposition, it is now probable that in a little over two weeks’ time the project will be virtually back at square one without an approved location.
Previously rejected sites include the Waterfront, St Saviour’s Hospital, Warwick Farm and Overdale – which is understood to be the new preferred option among senior ministers.
Ministers have opted to support the cancellation of the existing plans following Environment Minister John Young’s rejection of a second planning application for the new hospital earlier this month.
Senator Le Fondré immediately halted further work on the project and placed the issue at the top of the agenda for this week’s Council of Ministers’ meeting.
The Chief Minister said that feasibility studies on alternative sites had already been done and that ministers should be able to come back with a new preferred location relatively quickly.
However, it is unclear what impact this might have on the proposed timeline for the project.
Senator Le Fondré added: ‘Ministers have not yet agreed an alternative site for a new hospital. As has already been publicly identified, there will be a formal due diligence process, which will be limited to a small number of sites.
‘Given that a lot of work has already been done on such sites, this should be a relatively short process. I also recognise the importance of engaging with hospital staff, the parish of St Helier, and other political representatives in the States Assembly.’
To date, more than £38 million has been spent on the project, which has a total of budget of £466m. The previous States Assembly had given formal approval for the Gloucester Street site to be developed, although a policy development board – set up by Senator Le Fondré – recently cast doubt over the plans after finding that other sites should be revisited.
The policy development board, which was chaired by Assistant Chief Minister Chris Taylor, estimated that a decision on a new site may take the States until 2021 for approval, with a new hospital being opened in 2028.
Health Minister Richard Renouf has regularly spoken in favour of the Gloucester Street site and it is unclear whether he supports the decision of the Council of Ministers. The JEP has attempted to contact Deputy Renouf, but did not receive a response about the latest development in the plans at the time of going to print.
Funding proposals have already been agreed for the project. These include borrowing up to £275 million for the work. Those proposals are tied to building on the current site though, and Senator Le Fondré has confirmed he will lodge an amendment to Deputy Labey’s proposition that deals with the ‘retention of necessary funding’.
In a report on the most recent planning application, independent UK planning inspector Philip Staddon said: ‘The initial alternative sites question that I was posed was “are there alternative site options that would clearly avoid those adverse effects or substantially reduce them?” My finding is that, based on the evidence before me, the answer is no.
‘There is no perfect site, but there are alternatives that could deliver the hospital project with different environmental effects and consequences.’
