Jersey Development Company is hosting a drop-in event at the Town Hall in preparation for the Public Inquiry of the Southwest St Helier Visionary Framework scheduled for 15 May 2023.
The public drop-in event will take place on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 March at St Helier’s Town Hall. Updated plans and proposals will be available and members of the design team on hand to answer any questions islanders may have.
The Government of Jersey (GOJ) and the Jersey Development Company (JDC) have undertaken extensive public engagement on the Waterfront proposals during the drafting of the Supplementary Planning Guidance for the Southwest St Helier Waterfront and the Bridging Island Plan, and during the development of JDC’s design proposals for the Waterfront area.
The public consultations have been consistently clear that islanders want a Waterfront that is landscape-led, delivers new homes, is mixed-use and creates a vibrant destination for people to live, work, visit and enjoy. The spatial strategy for the Island that was approved in the Bridging Island Plan is to concentrate development in and around existing urban centres. These Waterfront sites provide the opportunity for delivering a significant number of new homes and thereby reducing pressure to rezone green fields.
Following the adoption of the Southwest St Helier Planning Framework by the Environment Minister in December 2019, a series of public consultations were carried out by JDC between October 2020 to August 2021. These public consultations, together in dialogue with the Planning Department and the Jersey Architecture Commission, has informed the design, the mix of uses and the layout of the proposed development.
The original Outline Planning Application was submitted in January 2022, following which further discussions were held with the Planning Department and Statutory Consultees and adjustments were made. These included further reduction to the height of the gateway building to eight storeys and the requirement to ensure none of the other buildings exceed eight storeys including roof plant. Other adjustments include La Route de la Liberation’s new pedestrian crossing and the incorporation of the newly listed La Frégate Café.
A fundamental principle of the Framework is to improve connectivity between the Waterfront and the town centre via a new pedestrian and cycle crossing. The development also includes a network of new streets reserved for pedestrians and cyclists to aid permeability and support the GoJ’s sustainable transport objectives.
To combat climate change and rising sea levels, the plans include raising promenades and sea walls and defences in the area and relocating the current West Park slipway to ensure continued public access to the beach and amphibious vehicle access to Elizabeth Castle.
JDC has liaised closely with the GoJ regarding sport and leisure provision and the art and cultural provision. The scheme proposes delivering 56 per cent of the site as open space and £150m of public infrastructure which will be funded by JDC without the requirement of any funding from government or taxpayers.
JDC has committed to ensuring that St Helier is not left without a cinema or public swimming pool either before, during or after development. The future detailed planning applications will work through logistics and timing to replace existing facilities with minimum disruption.
A St Helier Waterfront website will be available for islanders unable to attend the public drop-in event which will be updated to include user-friendly formats of the Design Statement and various supportive documents which formed the Addendum to the Planning Application. The website can be found here.
