Millbrook playing field officially gifted to public

Friday 14 January 2022

A mystery benefactor who paid £700,000 to buy the field at Millbrook Park has officially gifted the land to the public of the island.

Havilland (Jersey) Holdings Ltd passed the land - which previously hosted the Nightingale Hospital - to the Government in a transaction before in the Royal Court yesterday.

Following the transaction on Friday afternoon, Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis told Express that the "land will be preserved for the people of Jersey", and that "nothing will be touched", with it remaining a field and part of the wider Coronation Park, with "no plans” yet for more anything more than its preservation.

He said that the Coronation Park gardeners would be able to work on the space.

In addition, a proportion of the land has been handed over to the adjacent Glass Church, though he said he could not comment on their land or its size, only the Government's chunk.

The owner of Havilland Holdings has not been made public. The company was registered on 26 October 2021 to 44 Esplanade in St. Helier.

Deputy Lewis said the Government was "delighted and very grateful to the generous benefactor who's giving this land to the people of Jersey."

Pictured: Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis expressed his gratitude for the gift.

The land previously belonged to the descendants of Florence Boot - a philanthropist who married Boots heir Jesse Boot, whom she met while holidaying on the island in the 1800s. The field was purchased by by Havilland (Jersey) Holdings Ltd in a transaction that passed through the Royal Court on 12 November 2021.

In December, the Infrastructure Minister then indicated to States Members in a report that he intended to accept the land as a 'gift' on behalf of the public of the island.

At the time, Emma Houston, one of the 11 cousins related to the Boots family who sold the field, told Express it was "excellent news" that the buyer was gifting the land – "and one that my great grandparents would have hugely approved of!"

The Government is expected to release further information about the transaction on Monday.