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Jersey's Government has distanced itself from a statement made by one of the lead designers of the new hospital that there is a "high chance" the Crematorium will have to move from Westmount.
Just hours after Express reported the comments of Rob Etchell, Director of hospital designers Llewelyn Davies, Deputy Chief Minister Senator Lyndon Farnham published a counter statement saying the Crematorium itself wouldn't be moving.
Instead, he said some "services" might have to move temporarily during construction - but the memorial gardens would remain in place.
Senator Farnham is the politician heading up the new hospital project, and his statement is an attempt to clarify the comments made by Mr Etchell at a recent neighbourhood forum on the latest concept designs for the new hospital.
Mr Etchell said: “The crematorium is on the other side of the boundary, with its own entrance. There will be activity there, 24/7 (at the A&E entrance).
"The ambulances won’t be firing up their sirens or blue light, once they get up the road, so I don’t think it’s going to affect people who are, perhaps, coming out and standing outside the crematorium. But also, we’re putting a lot of landscaping buffering between the hospital and the crematorium as well, to try and create that buffer.
“But also the reality is, there is a probably a high chance that that crematorium won’t be there on the day the hospital opens, but that gift isn’t in our remit at the moment. That is something else that is being talked about. But we are making sure that if it did stay that we’d be great neighbours to it.”
But Senator Farnham countered that view this afternoon.
He said: “There are currently no plans in place to relocate the Crematorium, although it is possible some services may temporarily move during certain construction phases of the new hospital.
“As the Crematorium is reaching the point in time where it requires replacing, the Government of Jersey may decide to relocate the building at some stage in the future, but this is outside of the scope of the Our Hospital Project and no final decisions have been made.”
Following Mr Etchell’s comments, Express had asked for clarity on the fate of the memorial gardens.
“There is absolutely no intention whatsoever to move or alter the memorial gardens, which will remain untouched,” Senator Farnham said this afternoon.
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