Vote paves way for new hospital at Overdale

Tuesday 17 November 2020

States Members have officially approved Overdale as their preferred site for the future hospital - but there are still major hurdles to clear before spades can get close to the ground.

After more than two decades of debate and delay, politicians finally agreed that a new hospital, which could cost more than £800m, should be constructed at the top of Westmount.

If the project - Jersey's largest since the construction of St. Catherine's Breakwater - goes to plan, it will open its wards to patients in 2026.

After a relatively short debate on Tuesday afternoon, members backed Overdale as their preferred site by a healthy margin, with 37 votes in favour.

Senators Kristina Moore and Steve Pallett, Deputies Steve Luce, Mike Higgins and Jess Perchard, and Grouville Constable John Le Maistre voted against, while Deputy Inna Gardiner abstained.

I have so many unanswered questions about the hospital plan I was unable to definitively say if it is a good or a bad plan. It moved to the vote without the real debate, I abstained.

— Inna Gardiner (@innagardiner) November 17, 2020

But, while they secured the backing of the majority of States Members, Ministers did not get everything their own way.

Against the Council’s will, States Members backed a proposal by St. Helier Constable Simon Crowcroft, for a report to be officially presented to the Assembly laying out alternatives to a widened Westmount Road being the main access to the hospital, including creating a one-way system up that hill. 

Importantly, politicians also agreed that no land or properties along the route, including the Jersey Bowling Club, can be bought before the report is published, which could take two months.

The move, the Constable explained, followed concerns from residents in the area, who held two public meetings which he and Senator Farnham attended.

Members also agreed an amendment by the Future Hospital Review Panel, chaired by Senator Kristina Moore, to oblige the Council of Ministers to present a report containing detailed information on the proposed capacity of the hospital and its layout and area, as well as the overall project cost, before they ask States Members to give their approval to an 'Outline Business Case' in March next year.

It means that, despite today's vote in favour of building at Overdale, the plans could still be scuppered if politicians are not satisfied with the information provided in the report.

Pictured: The Future Hospital Review Panel requested a detailed breakdown of the costs of the project.

In presenting the main proposal seeking approval for Overdale, Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, who politically led the project, set out why he believed the site was the right one.

“In reaching the judgment that Overdale should be recommended as the preferred site, the Political Oversight Group and the Council of Ministers have extensively deliberated upon the opportunities and risks involved with each site,” he said.

”In reaching this conclusion, they have considered that Overdale would provide the better integrated hospital design that could support current and future generations of Islanders as the Overdale site is of sufficient size that it can accommodate all clinical services, inclusive of mental health, on one site.

“The site provides sufficient scope to allow for flexibility in design and to respond to the need for expansion in the future. Furthermore, this single site solution will also reduce operational running and logistics costs."

Pictured: Deputy Chief Minister Lyndon Farnham, who has political responsibility for the Our Hospital project.

He continued: “Overdale can deliver Our Hospital in the anticipated project timescale and it offers a better option in terms of flexibility of design and future-proofing.

“The impact of acquisition of private property and impact to nearby residents is limited and significantly less than other options with the exception of the People’s Park.

“The access challenges, which are duly acknowledged, can be overcome and provide opportunities to improve the road network and to support wider health and wellbeing activity.

“Any additional cost of the new hospital at Overdale, when compared to the People’s Park, will be outweighed by its contribution to the long-term health and care outcomes of Islanders over its lifetime.

“Members will have seen for themselves from the full site evaluation report appended to the Report and Proposition, and from the many briefings held, just how detailed the process and the technical assessments have been to reach these conclusions.”

Addressing the “perennial public debate” about alternative sites, Senator Farnham said his would like to clarify why Warwick Farm and St. Saviour’s Hospital did not make the shortlist.

Pictured: The Minister explained why Warwick Farm and St. Saviour's Hospital (above) did not make the shortlist.

“In relation to Warwick Farm, while the site passed the first two clinical criteria tests: in that it would be large enough to accommodate all the required clinical and support services, including staff and service access facilities and could be delivered within the project timeline, it did not meet other key aspects of the Citizens’ Panel criteria, specifically:

“The out of town location would require far greater use of the private car and greatly reduced opportunity for pedestrian access.

“There would be a significant requirement for highway improvement to cope with the capacity that a hospital would require, both locally and on the wider highway network stretching far to the north and into town with the potential to displace homes and private property - far greater than the highway improvements and land acquisition proposed for Overdale.

“The lack of social and community facilities nearby would not support sustainable behaviour. Warwick Farm is not a flat site, it is a challenging sloping site. Furthermore, during the previous Future Hospital project, a planning inspector's report said of the site: ‘It is within the Green Zone, where there is a presumption against all forms of development, although the associated policy does allow possible exceptions for 'strategic development’, which could include a new general hospital. 

“While it could physically accommodate a large hospital, it would conflict with the Island Plan's strategic focus of development in the built-up area. 

“Its location would not be particularly accessible or sustainable. This option would involve greater challenges than Overdale to the Island Plan and could only be realistically considered, in Planning terms, if no other sites were demonstrably available or workable in other more sustainable locations.

 “In relation to: St Saviour's Hospital, this site also passed the first two clinical criteria tests in that it would be large enough to accommodate all the required clinical and support services, including staff and service access facilities and may possibly be able to deliver the hospital within the project timeline – the key challenge with the timing here would be the requirement to relocate the mental health services to a temporary location prior to the start of the project."

It also did not meet the Citizens’ Panel criteria specifically, the Minister reasoned: “It is a remote site with very restricted access capacity so there would be a significant requirement for highway improvement to cope with the capacity that the hospital would require, both locally and on the wider highway network stretching west to Five Oaks and beyond with the potential to displace homes and private property on a scale far greater than the highway improvements and land acquisition proposed for Overdale.

“The remote location would require far greater use of the private car and very limited opportunity for pedestrian access.

“The lack of social and community facilities nearby would not support sustainable behaviour and staff and visitors would have no facilities to provide services found in less remote locations.

“During the previous Future Hospital project, a planning inspector’s report held the view that advocates of this site suggested that as an established hospital site, currently vacant and available, that it would provide a therapeutic and healing environment.

“However, the pursuit of this option would fundamentally conflict with the Island Plan. Its remoteness from the main centre and the majority of the Island’s population, the potential destruction of a fine Grade 1 listed building, and the likely serious impacts on the character and appearance of the area, would conflict with a raft of strategic and other policies within the Island Plan.

 “Having said that, it would be possible to build a Hospital on both of these sites and many other of the suggested sites, but the very thorough process that was followed and the subsequent evidence presented clearly places Overdale as a better option and the Council of Ministers and the Political Oversight Group judged Overdale to be the best choice.

“However, I can’t help but reflect that whatever site we had chosen, alternatives would have been fiercely lobbied for. For example, if we had chosen Warwick Farm, St Saviour or the Waterfront, we would have been lobbied to put it at Overdale.

“It is important for Members to note the step change that has taken place in this version of the Hospital project in terms of engagement.

“From the outset, we acknowledged previous criticisms and took steps to resolve them. In particular, our clinicians have been at the centre of the process as it has unfolded.

“The public have taken part in the call for sites and a Citizens’ Panel was established to reflect the unity of islanders that simply did not exist in the previous iteration. I have attended public meetings as recently as last week to reassure residents and provide accurate information and context.

“I would like to thank the residents for their forbearance during the process to date together with the Connétable of St Helier and the district Deputies who have engaged comprehensively with the process on behalf of their parishioners.

“I would like to place on record my absolute assurance – as I did at the public meetings - that I, together with the hospital project team, will continue to work inclusively and collectively with the Constable, Deputies and neighbours of Overdale as the project progresses."

After giving an initial green light to plans to build at Overdale, the States Assembly went on to approve the acquisition of land and properties to build the new hospital.

The States Assembly has voted to APPROVE Senator @lyndonfarnham’s proposal for the Public to acquire land and properties at Overdale in order to build the new hospital. https://t.co/dQMPojx8vW

— States Assembly (@StatesAssembly) November 17, 2020