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Campaigners have vowed to fight on to stop the old Maison de Ville care home in St Helier being developed by Dandara.
In a close vote last night, parishioners voted in favour of selling the site by 37 - 25 to the development company for £1.875million, despite opposition from local residents.
Under the plans, Dandara will also agree to pay a further £55,000 to refurbish the road to the south of the former home, which would be named ‘Patrick Freeley Lane’ as a tribute to the late Procureur du Bien Public, Patrick Freeley - a decision that was agreed at by a nearly unanimous show of hands.
Parish Assembly @StHelierJsy voted this evening to commemorate late Procureur du Bien Public Patrick Freeley with naming of lane
— Geraint Jennings (@GeraintJennings) March 29, 2017
Maison de Ville, which is located behind the former Jersey College for Girls building, was closed in 2014 following significant financial problems. It was hoped that the 50-bedroom facility could be redeveloped into 28 care apartments and a 60-place day nursery, which would have helped accommodate some of the children affected by the Avranches Day Nursery closure, but the £11 million project was refused.
The Parish incurred costs of nearly £400,000 following the unsuccessful planning process, with architectural consultation alone costing a quarter of a million.
Following the refusal of their planning application, plans to sell the property to Dandara were supported by the Constable, Procureurs du Bien Public and Roads Committee at the Assembly last night.
PICTURED: Constable Simon Crowcroft chaired the Parish Assembly yesterday | Wednesday 19 March
37 attendees voted in favour of the sale to Dandara, 25 voted against and one ballot paper was spoilt. There were gasps around the room when the result of the secret ballot vote was announced by Constable Simon Crowcroft.
St Helier's Parish Assembly votes to sell the former Maison de Ville site to Dandara for housing, 37 votes to 25 pic.twitter.com/6TKtwEaP9c
— Simon Crowcroft (@SimonCrowcroft) March 29, 2017
During the Assembly, St. Helier residents expressed strong concerns over what might replace the existing block – especially as they say they haven’t been shown plans for the potential development, nor were they shown the three alternate propositions offered to the Parish.
Speaking to Express earlier in the week before the vote, Mrs Anne Pasturel, who lives opposite the building, said that she feared a “mostly concrete” development would bring down the value of her home.
“It’s not fair… My husband and I have worked hard for our home,” she said.
She added that she and other residents of the area were “disappointed” that the Parish refused to share information on other bidders, and had strong concerns that, “...there’s still no traffic plan."
Mrs Pasturel was present at the Assembly last night and voiced her disappointment regarding the verdict to sell the property to Dandara.
However, she insists that the fight is not over yet.
She said: "We will look for the planning application and we will appeal, we've done it before, we've done the planning panel here, then the Parish, then we appealed, we went to an independent inspector and we won and I fully expect to do the same again. The only thing is it is very tiring, it's very time consuming and it's a wear-and-tear on the nerves and I'd rather not do it."
PICTURED: Anne Pasturel speaking at the debate during the St. Helier Parish Assembly last night.
Concern regarding the transparency of the Parish in the sale of the Maison de Ville property was high at the Assembly with Parishioners continually requesting information regarding the three other bids made for the property.
However, Mr Crowcroft and Silvio Alves, Director of Technical and Environmental Services, refused to share this information with the Assembly as it is "commercially sensitive" information.
But they did reveal that one of the rejected propositions was to rejuvenate the building into a care home for the elderly; however, Dandara's bid was chosen as it offered the Parish the most money.
When one Parishioner questioned the need to sell the property at all to which Mr Crowcroft commented: "we need the money."
Now, despite the objections raised at last night's meeting, the Constable has the backing of the Assembly to sell the site to Dandara.
Once the sale has gone through, the property development company will continue down the official route for development seeking permission from the planning department, a process which involves giving Islanders a 28-day period to respond to the designs.
Dandara are yet to submit a planning application for the development of the Maison de Ville site.
Pictured: A map of the proposed area of development, including the site of what would be new road, now amended and approved to be named 'Patrick Freeley Lane'.
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