Co-op special offer: six houses for a £1

Monday 12 May 2014

The CI Co-op is being asked to sell six properties on a controversial site at Charing Cross for the sum of just £1. The offer comes jointly from the National Trust for Jersey, and the campaign group Save Jersey's Heritage. The two groups say they will spend £2.4m refurbishing the six 'historic' properties which are on Pitt Street and Dumaresq Street, and which were recently part of a failed bid by the Co-op to rebuild its Charing Cross supermarket.

The offer has been made in an open letter to the Co-op President, Peter Roffey, and seems designed to put pressure on the Co-op to decide how it wants to redevelop the site.

The letter is signed by the President of the National Trust for Jersey, Celia Jeune, and the Chairman of Save Jersey's Heritage, Marcus Binney: 

"... our offer has the immense benefit of relieving the Co-op and its members of the entire cost of repair as well as the ongoing liabilities associated with the maintenance and management of such buildings.  Our proposal will also immediately provide work in the local construction industry and upon completion provide much needed homes and spaces for small businesses.

"Finance for our scheme will be obtained in two ways.  First the National Trust for Jersey will apply a substantial bequest to the project and if necessary use its own skilled craftsmen to undertake some of the work.  Second Save Jersey’s Heritage will set in motion the repair and refurbishment of the three properties in Dumaresq Street on the model of the five houses restored in Hue Street, selling the houses upon completion of the work".

In a covering e-mail, the Chief Executive of the National Trust, Charles Alluto, claims that the buildings are being allowed to fall into what he terms "...an appalling state of repair". He continues: "Both Save Jersey’s Heritage and the National Trust for Jersey do not feel it is acceptable for this impasse to continue and are willing to undertake the repair of these buildings for the benefit of the Island without any cost to the membership of the Co-op".

This morning, the CEO of the Co-op, Colin Macleod responded to the offer with a short statement: "The Society can confirm that it received an offer of £1.00 for the six vacant properties late last week. This offer will be discussed by our Board at our next meeting in June."

The six properties form the corner of the Co-op site at Charing Cross, and have posed an issue for the Society for more than a decade. The Co-op wants to rebuild its supermarket on that site, but the problem of what to do with the six properties has so far proved an insurmountable obstacle. Earlier this year, the problem even became one of the issues which led Chief Minister Ian Gorst to try and remove his Planning Minister, Deputy Rob Duhamel.